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Trying to build a burning laser

H

hoyaguru

Senior member
Found this video a while back: Link, and it looks fairly simple, but I need to know a few things. I found a guy on Ebay selling three 250mW 650nm Red High Power Laser Diodes for $48.00 (which sounds cheaper than buying a DVD burner to get a diode) but I don't know the mW of the average DVD burner diode, and whether the ones this Ebay guy is selling are stronger or weaker. Also, from what I understand, the lower the mW, the stronger the laser, but I'm wondering if the mW is too low, will two AA batteries have enough power to fire up the diode, or would I need a larger power source?

And, what's the difference between a red, blue, and green laser (besides the color). Is one color stronger than the others?
 
Green lasers are a higher wavelength and hence are more energetic (Planck equation: E = hv), in addition green lasers are in the middle of the visible spectrum and the medium and long cones have distributions peaking around green and yellow, making them appear brighter
 
if you don't know the difference btw the different color lasers you really need to do A LOT more research on lasers. the different colors are different wavelengths. they react differently with the surroundings. "a burning laser"?? what do you want to burn? at what distance? there are a lot of safety issues with building your own laser, and by your post it does not seem that you have enough knowledge of all of these concerns to be building your own laser. you should look at the pre-made green pointers, the stronger ones can pop balloons at some distance.
 
Pre-made burning lasers are very expensive, I'd rather build my own. Not sure what I want to burn yet, I'm sure I'll find something. Not looking to become an expert in laser science, just figured it would be a neat thing to make.

Originally posted by: herm0016
if you don't know the difference btw the different color lasers you really need to do A LOT more research on lasers. the different colors are different wavelengths. they react differently with the surroundings. "a burning laser"?? what do you want to burn? at what distance? there are a lot of safety issues with building your own laser, and by your post it does not seem that you have enough knowledge of all of these concerns to be building your own laser. you should look at the pre-made green pointers, the stronger ones can pop balloons at some distance.
Click to expand...

 
Originally posted by: hoyaguru
Also, from what I understand, the lower the mW, the stronger the laser,

...

And, what's the difference between a red, blue, and green laser (besides the color). Is one color stronger than the others?
Click to expand...

If you don't understand the most basic things about lasers, you have no business building one.
 
Um, yeah, that's kind of why I posted the questions above.

Originally posted by: jagec
Originally posted by: hoyaguru
Also, from what I understand, the lower the mW, the stronger the laser,

...

And, what's the difference between a red, blue, and green laser (besides the color). Is one color stronger than the others?
Click to expand...

If you don't understand the most basic things about lasers, you have no business building one.
Click to expand...

 
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