Materials for Dispersing Laser Beams

[dazza24383]

hey guys, I'm currently doing a project on laser beam, and just wondering what material i can use to disperse a laser beam so it hit a surface with more surface area.

thx

Dazza

 

[JeffKoch]

You mean something like a lens? A microscope objective works well - anything with a very short focal length will expand the beam without needing too much space.

 

[dazza24383]

yes a lens, something small and thin

do you know where i can buy it from?

thx

 

[cesiumfrog]

Try just bouncing it off a slightly curved scrap of aluminium foil from the kitchen. It's keeping the beam collimated that's supposed to be difficult.

 

[Claude Bile]

Any lens will do the trick. You could even do it without a lens if distance is not an issue using the laser beams natural divergence.

On a nit-pickky note, the term dispersion is generally reserved for a spread in frequency of a laser beam, not space. The term divergence is generally used for spatial spreading.

Claude.

 

[JeffKoch]

Edmund Scientific sells lots of cheap lenses, or - if you don't care about the quality of the expanded beam - go to a local toy store and find something like a small glass or plastic ball (or cylinder). A camera lens works too, but needs a lot of space. You could also break open a Christmas ornamental ball and reflect the beam off the inside surface at an angle.