Wanna See A Laser Burn Stuff??
 

Here's a video I made last night of my class IV ruby laser I built when I was a kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZOZBzdLZ0

not enough carnage

Very impressive, Evil. Did you say you did that in high school? How long ago was that?

Yeah, and I'm not even good at it either! :singer::rolleyes::D

Seriously, I'm more intriguing around other people I just have this thing with microphones and answering machines.

Thanks! Well I'm 26 now so 12 years ago...

it is cool you did make it..what else can it do ^_^

Dude you could seriously srew up someone's life with this thing.

omg, how's it powered???

how many things in that bad boy will kill you if you mess with them?
Seriously, bad ass stuff. I like it. How much for one (minus the rod thing)

Where's the beam go after is pass's through whatever object you place infrount of it?

What would that do to say, and apple?
~Nate

I'm Disturbed by your choice of music.

Cool stuff, EVIL. Or should we call you Dr. Evil? I could get myself into all kinds of trouble with one of those things.

Disturbed!!
That is truly awesome though, I want one!

A ruby laser has many practical uses. I just use it for experiments though. I originally assembled it for holography use since it is able to produce an immediate exposure. This allows you to make holograms of animate objects and not need an anti-vibration table. They are also good for removing green or black tatoos. My friend didn't believe me so I put a hole in his fresh tatoo. :D

Yeah, especially if you got hit in the eye. It will perminately blind someone from a mile or more away.

Cool! I heard the air force is building a larger one and mounting it on a plan to shoot down missles.

The laser is powered by household voltage. The power supply is basically a GIANT camera flash, that's why It takes time to store up energy.

The capacitor in this laser is rated at 200 microfarads @ 1,200 volts. When it discharges at the flashlamp, it's equivilent to 1,200V @ about 1,000 Amps! And that's followed by a 25KV trigger. VERY LETHAL!

As for the price. You can't get them anymore. There are a few head components on Ebay once in a while that go for around $400. Most people that have them want to keep them. BTW, it would be useless without the ruby rod as it's the lasing medium. It would be like a car without an engine.

An un-colminated ruby laser has a divergence of about 1mm per meter. So, by the time the beam hits the other end of the room the spot size is about 5mm in diameter. This would not be enough power in such a short time to burn anything. However, it would definitely blind you. I do have a colminator for this laser but I don't use it because it limits the power output and all my experiments are up close anyway.

Not much, It would most likely vaporize the skin and puncture the meat about 1/8 of an inch. Now, if the beam could last more than half a millisecond it would go right through. The biggest problem with an apple is absorption rate. A laser beam is basically a stream packed with photons. These photons bounce off or are easily absorbed by the molecules in an apple. An Apple contains lots of H2O so this absorbs the heat the photons create when they hit it. Now, a piece of black plastic.... No problem! The photons are absorbed by the polymer molecules which are then excited to the plasma state and will vaporize. This laser will punch holes in thin gauge steel and aluminum too but the beam needs to be focused to a tiny spot with this laser. Have you ever seen the tiny holes in baby bottle nipples? Those are made with a ruby laser.

Yeah, that's an oxygen iodine chemical laser. the lasing medium is basically a plasma explosion that puts out a 100+ megawatt beam for about 2 seconds.