Green laser fiber optic lighting for Martian war machine?

merkin63 · Post by **merkin63** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:31 pm

I have always wonderd if you applied a laser diode to a bundle of thin fiber optics would you get individual beams of light,thanks for any help.

Grumpy Popeye · Post by **Grumpy Popeye** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:09 pm

I have a green laser I'm using for my TOS phaser, I can bundle up some FO and find out for you

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:45 pm

If you want to have a beam come off on the other end, no, it won't. That's because FOs work on total internal reflection, what means that light bounces around the fiber. That, in turn, means that the light of a laser beam, although it keeps most of its intensity, will be 'spread out', as parts of the beam get reflected by different parts of the fiber, going in different directions (you know, angle of incidence and whatnot). Each 'bounce' inside the fiber will scramble the beam even further, until you have just a laser source (monochromatic, coherent light), not a laser beam.

P.S. I have already tried the experiment — pretty much the second after I had both a laser and fiber. No luck. I makes for a really powerful point source of light, but no beam.

jwrjr · Post by **jwrjr** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:55 pm

Another problem with a green laser and FO - it is the nature of plastic optical fiber that it transmits better at longer wavelengths ... like red and infrared. You will lose some of the intensity with shorter wavelengths - like green.

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:26 am

I had toyed with the idea of adding green laser pointers to my MIM resin kit as it is hollow as well. I wasn't going to use them as the "weapons" but was going to mount them in the three gravity projectors on the bottom. The ship was going to be pole mounted in a diorama. This would give the illusion that it was being supported on three visible green beams. I may do this now that the Pegasus kit is available and because green laser pointers are so cheap on ebay now.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:43 am

[quote="jwrjr"]Another problem with a green laser and FO - it is the nature of plastic optical fiber that it transmits better at longer wavelengths ... like red and infrared. You will lose some of the intensity with shorter

You mean glass. Most plastic FO are pretty dead towards the far red end and drop off completely in the near-IR... as I found out the hard way.

markh262 · Post by **markh262** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:09 pm

Can you use the optics and components from a red laser pointer to create a red beam from the WotW beam weapon?

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:29 am

robiwon wrote:I had toyed with the idea of adding green laser pointers to my MIM resin kit as it is hollow as well. I wasn't going to use them as the "weapons" but was going to mount them in the three gravity projectors on the bottom. The ship was going to be pole mounted in a diorama. This would give the illusion that it was being supported on three visible green beams. I may do this now that the Pegasus kit is available and because green laser pointers are so cheap on ebay now.

markh262 wrote:Can you use the optics and components from a red laser pointer to create a red beam from the WotW beam weapon?

The problem with any lasers for FX like this is they don't really cast a beam unless you're pointing them through a fairly dense medium (smoke, cloudy water, etc.). Without something to scatter the "beam", all you'll see are two points of light: one at the source and one on the base.

Not to mention the inevitable eye injuries that will come from people who just HAVE to look into the beam. That's especially important to safeguard against with the green pointers. They're much more intense.

Personally, I recommend against using any kind of laser pointer in lighting FX for models. They do make great cat toys though

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:30 am

robiwon wrote:I had toyed with the idea of adding green laser pointers to my MIM resin kit as it is hollow as well. I wasn't going to use them as the "weapons" but was going to mount them in the three gravity projectors on the bottom. The ship was going to be pole mounted in a diorama. This would give the illusion that it was being supported on three visible green beams. I may do this now that the Pegasus kit is available and because green laser pointers are so cheap on ebay now.

Why not make the three visible beams as clear (frosted?) plastic cones and light them up from the the bottom end? I mean use them as the model's support instead of the rod.

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:18 am

First, green lasers do produce a visible beam in normal room lighting without the aide of smoke, dust, etc. Red lasers need something in the way of small particles to "see" the beam, like smoke.

Second, if mounted in a diorama, anyone that is close enough to get between the ship and the base is "way to close" to my model and would need a very tiny head as well! The model would be about 5-6 inches above the base.

Of course anyone working with lasers needs to be extremely cautious as they can be very dangerous! If you don't know what your doing, don't touch them!