wicked lasers new 1 Watt

[ckoral]

I noticed wicked lasers has a very wicked laser. I'm thinking it may be possible to fry my aptasia with a 1 watt laser. Can anyone with more knowledge about lasers speak up on this?

http://www.dailytech.com/WickedLasers%20Unveils%20Lightsaber%20Powerful%20Enough%20to%20Set%20People%20on%20Fire/article18681.htm

 

[jhoff]

Good idea.But i wouldn't want to be the fish that swims through it...

 

[Deluxe247]

With a high optical density, the saltwater would cause the light to bend dramatically so aiming might be difficult, especially if there's even the tiniest ripple in the water. Even if you could aim it right, I don't know how much real light intensity you'd get shooting the laser through the water. Anyway, maybe a fun fantasy gadget.

 

[PurdueWaterGuy]

Hey, that has possibilities!

One of our bygone research projects was to fabricate blue-green lasers for secure communications with submarines running at depth - blue-green having the lowest loss passing thru salt water.

You could set it up to run at low power to aim, them pulse high power to cook the aptasia.

You would want to be real careful with that sort of laser. I can't remember the power levels where things start getting scary, but I do remember that it is way less than 1 Watt. Something about hearing a popping sound as the cornea focuses the stray laser energy on the retina, vaporizing a section and causing a permanent blind spot. Not the sort of thing you would play laser tag with.

Come to think of it, aren't there restrictions on who can buy higher power lasers? Dang, my laser safety guy is on vacation for the next three weeks......

Might still be worth looking into....


Tim

 

[kev24k]

I've read you can blind yourself with just the scattered reflection off of a white piece of paper with this laser. This thing is dangerous, and I would be scared poopless of it reflecting off of anything and hitting my eye.

 

[ckoral]

I just know someone on here wants one anyway, so I was hoping we could do a test on the effectiveness of it. How long it takes, what distance, through glass, top surface....

 

[yardboy]

Could you just direct it with a fiber optic cable to lessen the risk and to use it to put the light right at the aiptasia?