Brainiac75
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Cola is perfect for lowering a laser's power?
🕑 Added 2021-08-29 17:47:59 +0000 UTCI have always been fascinated by strong lasers - the stronger, the better!
But times have changed since my most powerful laser was a <5 mW red laser pointer and I could only dream of owning something stronger.
Now, I have lasers so strong that I prefer to have their power lowered when setting them up or testing for example divergence.
In my new video, I test ideas from my viewers for lowering the power. All of them work, but which one is the best?
The tests will take us far around in the world of amateur science. I even show a lazy man's way of decarbonating cola...
Comments
Assuming all Coco-Colas or Pepsis are created equally around the world, it should be possible to make a chart showing how much 'x' cm cola will lower wavelength 'y'. It should even be possible to make a standard test to see if a given red laser pointer is under 5 mW by sending it through a given length of cola. But that involves some safety considerations and legal disclaimers to publish :) But I am considering making it. Thanks for the input!
Could you calculate how much width the coke needs to darken a specific wavelength to a specific value?
Not really. I just went straight for the luxury edition of a variable ND. It is convenient compared to having only one polarizing filter or two separate filters. But the cheap ones could be made to work just as fine. I believe the reason for the high price of photography variable ND is the need for them to be as color neutral as possible. For lowering one laser wavelength I don't care for color neutrality across the visible spectrum... I will have to stress-test the variable ND in a future video and may order some cheap glass polarizing filters too to see how well they work and cope with high powers.
TechieSteve
Any reason you didn't try a simple glass photographic polarising filter before heading for the variable ND? There are some pretty cheap ones available. There are Amazon basic ones for about €10.
