I think I have also explained this before, at least over on LC, maybe not here, though.
It's a rather long story, how "Schrecken Licht" came about.
About 10 years ago I worked at a laser machining shop, which is where my fascination with lasers was born. Anyway, I was blown away by the multi-kilowatt CO2 lasers (and a few 300-700 watt YAGs) they had there, and, being the type of person I am (an artist who tends to imagine stuff that most people would never think of) I decided that each laser there would have to have a symbol and a name.
Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but bear with me - I love to draw, sketch, paint both realistic representations of things + cartoons. I imagined what sort of thing would symbolize each laser, and I drew these metal-skinned beam-spitting beasts that would represent each laser.
And being that most of the lasers there (save for the YAGs) were made by a German company (and also I do have some German blood on my father's side), I declared they would need names in the German language.
So the first one I named was the 5kw laser that welded the metal parts I had to spend all day grading and sorting - I spent every day there working a few feet away from that laser. I called it the "Schrecken Licht" - which translates as "scary (or "terrifying" or even "terror" depending on the translator you use) "light" =
Scary Light! Which is most appropriate for 5kw of CO2 power! I remember the time they were doing some alignment test on that laser and they torched a piece of plywood 15 feet away with the beam, and flames leapt over 2 feet high! I'll never forget that....all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up!
So, when on laser forums, I always use the name Schrecken Licht.
Here's a pic of the symbol for the Schrecken Licht laser (torching a victim who surely must have represented someone who got on my nerves when I worked at that place!). Sometimes I use this laser creature as an avatar as well, used to do so on LC.):
Here's a "group picture" of sorts, of all the CO2 laser symbols - the SL is the one front and center at the bottom of the group:
A side note: when I worked there, a rep from the laser manufacturer came down to provide technical support for one of the lasers that needed repair. The guy saw some of my artwork, and he commissioned me to do a painting of two of the shop's lasers cutting thru a steel wall (or, rather the monsters that symbolized the lasers) - this is that painting (the top one is the "Zerstorer" or Destroyer, the other is the "Tuefel Licht" or "Devil/demon light":
Here you see a generic little "laser critter" on the custom warning sign I made for my YAG (my other non-portable lasers all have one too):
