Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [laser]

Is the acronym Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Can refer to Gas, electrical, or chemical lasers.

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Laser related questions

I have never designed a laser device, but I have tried to read extensively on them. I'm aware of the different classes of lasers, and the dangers associated with them. For instance, I know about the requirement for an interlock that shuts down the…
ajs410
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Laser - damaging to your eyes?

Will a <5mW laser Class IIIa become less dangerous to the eye if I supply it with less current/voltage? Or is there something about the laser itself that makes it dangerous?
OdinX
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Driving a laser module from 5V supply

I've got a cheapo 5mW red laser module (datasheet), it looks like its got an internal regulator, probably a thermal cutoff too. I've been having problems driving it. First thing I tried is I connected it to 5V via a resistor of varying value, (1k…
Yarek T
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Laser cutter from DVD Lasers?

If I were to pulse those mini DVD lasers in sequence, assuming that they were all trained on the same target, could I produce temps high enough to be a decent laser cutter? Or do lasers just not work that way. I think that If I train 40 of those…
user3045
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High rate modulation of laser diodes

Need to modulate a 200 mW laser diode to 2 Gbps. The diode has typical threshold of 50mA and typical forward current of 500mA. Chips such as: ADN2871 by Analog devices; SY882322 by Micrel; and M02067 by Mindset Tech. can provide as much as 80mA…
Lasers1
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Strange copper wire on CO2 Laser Tube

I just purchased a 40W CO2 Laser Tube. I noticed there is a weird stray copper wire coming out from the negative anode that is looped and tied around the lens frame. Can anyone explain what this is and its purpose? Is it supposed to be there, or…
emtinkerer
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Reasonably priced laser cutting service in the UK?

Has anyone had any experiences with laser cutting services in the UK? I've googled but most of the results seem to be for expensive industrial setups. What I'm looking for is someone who can do pretty much what the Pololu service here does but…
Len Holgate
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reading raw data from a cdrom

Can you point me some technical resources on how cdrom works and is it possible or lets say how easy to make a diy cdrom ? I am interested in reading and processing raw data from cd, not using a chip to decode EFM etc.
mete
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Simple DIY laser alarm

Im begginer and currently Im trying to make DIY laser alarm (while laser is pointing at LDR sirene should remain silent and when laser is turned off, sirene should make sound). I found online following schema As sirene Im using KPE212A for…
Pavel Hornak
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Laser for drilling very small holes

I have seen examples of repurposing cd-r/w or dvd-r/w lasers to use for laser pointers or even 'burning' lasers. I have a project in mind, and I am hoping to make holes in a pingpong ball that range from .3 mm to 5 mm in size. Could those type of…
Roger
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How do laser levels work?

How is the laser able to move around corners, or able to draw a vertical line? Is there one laser diode for each red line, and is the diode then being made to sweep the beam along the wall? Are all the diodes then coordinated thus producing those…
user41067
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Is there a way for a laser to work across a range of colors?

For lasers used for free space / mirror steered / diffuse beam communications or LIDAR scanning, would there be some way for a single laser to be able to selectively transmit across a range of colors, to a receiver that can similarly distinguish…
Dale Mahalko
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Visible and safe laser beam for lit areas

In an application, I need a laser beam that is safe for indirect exposure and has visible beam in lit areas. I understand that 5mW is the maximum power commonly used without the need of safety glasses but 5mW lasers don't seem to have strong visible…
Arash
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Using a DVD diode to create a mag-lite laser

So, I decided I wanted to make my very first foray into some basic electronics. I decided I was going to attempt to make a laser mag-lite, as per this hack here. The steps seem pretty straight forward, so I figured it would make a good first…
eidylon
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A question about electronic measurement of pulsed laser

I have read recently somewhere which I cannot find now, that extreme short pulse width lasers cannot be generated electronically. But if electronic circuitry is not capable to to generate such laser pulses, how is the pulse width of them measured…
floppy380
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