Recent content by Mike Gaffer

CSEL (Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) - I MEANT VCSEL Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser...

Its my first time using a VCSEL laser -- so I was uncertain if it needed focusing or was just normally columnated to some degree coming out of the module. I own a few of similar hand held lasers to this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325596205550 and if I unscrew the lens, the diode module in the...

10cm at 250 feet is acceptable. Optics / lenses would have to go as close to the diode as possible. This is for mounting on a weapon as a pointing device - so air stability is not a factor as there will be many environmental influencers.

I'm attempting to build an IR laser pointer. It needs to operate at 850nm (IR spectrum). It has to be as close to a "dot" at 250 feet as possible (columnated beam, and not a wide "flashlight" type beam). Power output should be around 150mW. I need to control the brightness from 5mw to 150mw...

Hi Baluncore, I didn't think about beam stability with the galvanometers. I guess they cant perform a raster scan efficiently without quite a bit of "vibration settling." For the beam path I provided, it actually is in 2-D --- the actual printer I own, and it scans the bottom of a translucent...

Hi Tom, Thanks for your reply. Edmund Optics is a resource I forgot about since college. Thanks! Also, I love the idea of disassembling a telescope for optics, if I cant find the exact element cost effectively. Thanks for the ideas. Ted

Objectives: - best path for optics needed to focus and "draw"/project a high resolution image onto a workspace around 500mm square (for a Laser Direct Imaging machine) - where to cost effectively purchase or make the optics necessary to build a prototype The problem: I need to project a high...

THANK YOU! This looks amazing - I think this may be the right path to research further. Thanks again!

By "control" I mean, divide a piece of film into a grid of for example, 100 columns, and 100 rows, and have each square of the grid cause a beam impacting it to be "steered" at a different output angle... almost like a piece of engineered bumpy glass.

The angle, once determined, won't need to change. But I need to have potentially hundreds of different angle "quadrants" or areas on the element that would each need to be "steered" uniquely. Also weight, power, and potentially production type quantities would make the motor not applicable for...

Very interesting! Will look into this further.

By _control_, I was looking at dividing an optical element, whether it be holographic film, or something else, into a grid; having each segment of the grid diffract a beam that is directed at it, at a unique output angle, and be able to calculate the output angle predictably. Then, be able to...

I'm not familiar with spatial light modulators, other than having seen the term before... is this the type of module that is being used to generate true holograms in real time with massive amounts of computer data being fed into them? Would you know any place to start on _how_ I would use one?

I guess the question is, how could I make a diffractive optical element (DOE), and is it possible to do this with holographic film?

I'm a physics student, and working on a class project that requires coming up with a method to control the exit angle (diffraction angle) of a monochromatic light source. For example, taking a laser (monochromatic, coherent light source), spreading the beam, and directing the light at a piece...