The word “laser” or “laser” is an abbreviation for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” In Russian: - “light amplification by stimulated emission”, or optical quantum generator. The first laser, which used a silver-coated ruby cylinder as a resonator, was developed in 1960 by Hughes Research Laboratories, California. .Today, lasers are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from measuring various quantities to reading encoded data. There are several ways to make a laser, depending on your budget and skills.
Steps
Part 1
Understanding how a laser works- The simplest resonator or “linear resonator” uses two mirrors placed on opposite sides of the laser working chamber to generate a single output beam.
- A more complex "ring resonator" uses three or more mirrors. It can generate multiple beams or a single beam using an optical isolator.
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The use of a focusing lens to direct light through an intensifying medium. Along with mirrors, the lens helps concentrate and direct the light so that the intensifying medium receives as much light as possible.
Part 2
Building a LaserMethod One: Making a Laser from a Kit
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Purchase. You can buy at an electronics store or buy online a "laser kit", "laser kit", "laser module" or "laser diode". The laser kit should include the following:
- Driver circuit. Sometimes sold separately from other components. Select a driver circuit that will allow you to regulate the current.
- Laser diode.
- The regulating lens can be made of glass or plastic. Typically, the diode and lens are assembled together in a small tube. These components are sometimes sold separately without a driver.
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Assembling the driver circuit. Many laser kits are sold with the driver unassembled. These kits include printed circuit board and the corresponding parts, and you have to solder them according to the attached diagram. Some kits may have an assembled driver.
Connect the control unit to the laser diode. If you have a digital multimeter, you can connect it to the diode circuit to monitor the current. Most laser diodes have a current ranging from 30 to 250 milliamps (mA). A current range of 100 to 150 mA will produce a fairly powerful beam.
- You can apply more current to the laser diode to produce a more powerful beam, but the additional current will shorten the lifespan or even burn out the diode.
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Connect the power supply or battery to the driver circuit. The laser diode should glow brightly.
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Rotate the lens to focus the laser beam. Point it at the wall and focus until a nice, bright point appears.
- Once you have adjusted the lens this way, place a match on the beam line and rotate the lens until you see the match head begin to smoke. You can also try to burst Balloons or burn holes in the paper.
Method two: Building a diode laser from an old DVD or Blu-Ray drive
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Take an old DVD or Blu-Ray recorder or drive. Choose devices with write speeds of 16x or faster. These devices have laser diodes with an output power of 150mW or more.
- The DVD drive has a red laser diode with a wavelength of 650 nm.
- The Blu-Ray drive has a blue laser diode with a wavelength of 405nm.
- The DVD drive must be in good enough condition to burn discs, although not necessarily successfully. In other words, its diode must be good.
- Don't try to use a DVD reader or CD reader and writer instead of a DVD writer. The DVD reader has a red diode, but it is not as powerful as the DVD writer. The laser diode in the CD writer is quite powerful, but emits light in the infrared range, and you will get a beam that is invisible to the eye
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Removing the laser diode from the drive. Turn over the drive bottom up. You will see screws that will have to be removed before you can separate the drive mechanism and pull out the diode.
- Once you disassemble the drive, you will see a pair of metal guides held in place with screws. They support the laser kit. Unscrew the guides to remove them. Remove the laser kit.
- A laser diode is smaller in size than a penny. It has three metal contacts in the form of legs. It may be placed in a metal shell with a protective transparent window or without a window, or it may not be covered with anything.
- You have to pull the diode out of the laser head. It may be easier to remove the heatsink from the assembly first before attempting to remove the diode. If you have an antistatic wrist strap, use it while removing the diode.
- Handle the laser diode with care, especially if it is an unprotected diode. If you have an anti-static container, place the diode in it until you begin to assemble the laser.
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Prepare the focusing lens. You will have to pass the beam from the diode through a focusing lens to use it as a laser. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Using a magnifying glass as a focusing lens. Rotate the lens to find the right place to get focused laser beam. If necessary, this will have to be done each time before using the laser.
- Buy few powerful laser nal diode, for example 5 mW, assembled with lens and tube. Then replace it with a laser diode from a DVD writer.
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A laser requires an energy source to operate. Lasers work by exciting electrons in the laser's active medium with an external energy source and stimulating them to emit light of a specific wavelength. This process was first proposed in 1917 by Albert Einstein. In order for electrons (in the atoms of the active medium of the laser) to emit light, they must first absorb energy by moving to a higher orbit, and then release this energy in the form of a particle of light when returning to their original orbit. This method of introducing energy into the active medium of a laser is called “pumping.”
Channel passage of energy through an active (amplifying) medium. An amplifying medium or active laser medium increases the intensity of light due to induced (stimulated) radiation emitted by electrons. The enhancing medium can be any of the following structures or substances:
Installing mirrors to contain the light inside the laser. Mirrors, or resonators, keep light within working chamber laser until the desired level of energy is accumulated for radiation through a small hole in one of the mirrors or through a lens.
Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today I am opening a series of articles devoted to high-power lasers, because Habrasearch says that people are looking for such articles. I want to tell you how you can make a fairly powerful laser at home, and also teach you how to use this power not just for the sake of “shine on the clouds.”
Warning!
The article describes the production of a powerful laser (300mW ~ power of 500 Chinese pointers), which can harm your health and the health of others! Be extremely careful! Use special safety glasses and do not point the laser beam at people or animals!
On Habré, articles about portable Dragon Lasers, such as Hulk, appeared only a couple of times. In this article I will tell you how you can make a laser that is not inferior in power to most models sold in this store.
First you need to prepare all the components:
- - a non-working (or working) DVD-RW drive with a write speed of 16x or higher;
- — capacitors 100 pF and 100 mF;
- — resistor 2-5 Ohm;
- — three AAA batteries;
- - soldering iron and wires;
- — collimator (or Chinese pointer);
- — steel LED lamp.
This minimum required to make a simple driver model. The driver is, in fact, a board that will output our laser diode to the required power. You should not connect the power source directly to the laser diode - it will break down. The laser diode must be powered with current, not voltage.
A collimator is, in fact, a module with a lens that reduces all radiation into a narrow beam. Ready-made collimators can be purchased at radio stores. These already have comfortable spot for installing a laser diode, and the cost is 200-500 rubles.
You can also use a collimator from a Chinese pointer, however, the laser diode will be difficult to attach, and the collimator body itself will most likely be made of metallized plastic. This means our diode will not cool well. But this is also possible. This option can be found at the end of the article.
First you need to get the laser diode itself. This is a very fragile and small part of our DVD-RW drive - be careful. A powerful red laser diode is located in the carriage of our drive. You can distinguish it from a weak one by its larger radiator than that of a conventional IR diode.
It is recommended to use an antistatic wrist strap as the laser diode is very sensitive to static voltage. If there is no bracelet, then you can wrap the diode leads with thin wire while it waits for installation in the case.
According to this scheme, you need to solder the driver.
Don't mix up the polarity! The laser diode will also fail instantly if the polarity of the supplied power is incorrect.
The diagram shows a 200 mF capacitor, however, for portability, 50-100 mF is quite enough.
Before installing the laser diode and assembling everything into the housing, check the functionality of the driver. Connect another laser diode (non-working or the second one from the drive) and measure the current with a multimeter. Depending on the speed characteristics, the current strength must be chosen correctly. For 16 models, 300-350mA is quite suitable. For the fastest 22x, you can even supply 500mA, but with a completely different driver, the manufacture of which I plan to describe in another article.
Looks terrible, but it works!
Aesthetics.
A laser assembled by weight can only be boasted of in front of the same crazy techno-maniacs, but for beauty and convenience it is better to assemble it in a convenient case. Here it’s better to choose for yourself how you like it. I mounted the entire circuit into a regular LED flashlight. Its dimensions do not exceed 10x4cm. However, I do not recommend carrying it with you: you never know what claims the relevant authorities may make. It is better to store it in a special case so that the sensitive lens does not become dusty.
This is an option with minimal costs— a collimator from a Chinese pointer is used:
Using a factory-made module will allow you to get the following results:
The laser beam is visible in the evening:
And, of course, in the dark:
Maybe.
Yes, in the following articles I want to tell and show how such lasers can be used. How to make much more powerful specimens, capable of cutting metal and wood, and not just lighting matches and melting plastic. How to make holograms and scan objects to create 3D Studio Max models. How to make powerful green or blue lasers. The scope of application of lasers is quite wide, and one article cannot do it here.
Attention! Don't forget about safety precautions! Lasers are not a toy! Take care of your eyes!
Made with your own hands, it will be useful in every home.
Of course, homemade device will not be able to gain the greater power that production devices have, but still some benefits in everyday life can be obtained from it.
The most interesting thing is what to make laser cutter You can use old unnecessary items.
For example, using an old laser pointer will allow you to make a laser device with your own hands.
In order for the process of creating a cutter to progress as quickly as possible, you need to prepare the following items and tools:
laser type pointer;
battery-powered flashlight;
an old CD/DVD-RW writer that may be out of order - you will need a drive with a laser from it;
electric soldering iron and a set of screwdrivers.
The process of making a cutter with your own hands begins with disassembling the drive, from where you need to remove the device.
Extraction must be done as carefully as possible, and you will have to be patient and attentive. The device contains many different wires with almost the same structure.
When choosing a DVD drive, you need to consider that it is a writeable drive, since this is the option that allows you to make recordings using a laser.
Writing is done by evaporating a thin layer of metal from the disk.
During the reading process, the laser operates at half its capacity. technical capabilities, slightly illuminating the disk.
During the process of dismantling the upper fastener, the eye will fall on a carriage with a laser, which can move in several directions.
The carriage must be carefully removed and the connectors and screws carefully removed.
Then you can proceed to removing the red diode, which burns the disk - this can easily be done with your own hands using an electric soldering iron. The extracted element should not be shaken, much less dropped.
Once the main part of the future cutter is on the surface, you need to make a carefully thought-out plan for assembling the laser cutter.
It is necessary to take into account following points: how best to place the diode, how to connect it to the power source, because the diode of the writing device requires more electricity than the main element of the pointer.
This issue can be resolved in several ways.
To make a manual cutter with more or less high power, you need to remove the diode located in the pointer, and then replace it with the element removed from the DVD drive.
Therefore, the laser pointer is disassembled as carefully as the DVD burner drive.
The object is untwisted, then its body is divided into two halves. Immediately on the surface you will be able to see a part that needs to be replaced with your own hands.
To do this, the original diode from the pointer is removed and carefully replaced with a more powerful one, its reliable fastening can be done using glue.
It may not be possible to remove the old diode element right away, so you can carefully pry it out with the tip of a knife, then lightly shake the pointer body.
At the next stage of manufacturing a laser cutter, you need to make a housing for it.
For this purpose, a flashlight with rechargeable batteries is useful, which will allow the laser cutter to receive electrical power, acquire an aesthetic appearance, and ease of use.
To do this, you need to introduce a modified top part former pointer.
Then you need to connect the charger to the diode using the charger located in the flashlight battery. It is very important to accurately establish the polarity during the connection process.
Before the flashlight is assembled, it is necessary to remove the glass and other extra elements pointers that may interfere with the laser beam.
At the final stage, the laser cutter is prepared for use.
For a comfortable self made All stages of work on the device must be strictly observed.
For this purpose, it is necessary to check the reliability of fixation of all embedded elements, correct polarity and evenness of the laser installation.
So, if all the assembly conditions stated above in the article have been strictly met, the cutter is ready for use.
But since a homemade hand-held device is endowed with low power, it is unlikely that it will turn into a full-fledged laser cutter for metal.
What a cutter can ideally do is make holes in paper or plastic film.
But you cannot point a laser device made by yourself at a person; here its power will be enough to harm the health of the body.
How can you amplify a homemade laser?
To make a more powerful laser cutter for metal work with your own hands, you need to use devices from the following list:
DVD-RW drive, it makes no difference whether it works or not;
100 pF and mF – capacitors;
2-5 Ohm resistor;
3 pcs. rechargeable batteries;
soldering iron, wires;
steel lantern with LED elements.
Assembling a laser cutter for manual work occurs according to the following scheme.
With the use of these devices, the driver is assembled; subsequently, through the board, it will be able to provide the laser cutter with a certain power.
In this case, under no circumstances should you connect the power supply directly to the diode, as the diode will burn out. You also need to take into account that the diode must take power not from voltage, but from current.
A body equipped with an optical lens is used as a collimator, due to which the rays will accumulate.
This part is easy to find in a special store, the main thing is that it has a groove for installing a laser diode. The price of this device is small, approximately $3-7.
By the way, the laser is assembled in the same way as the cutter model discussed above.
Wire can also be used as an antistatic product; a diode is wrapped with it. Then you can start assembling the driver device.
Before moving on to complete manual assembly of the laser cutter, you need to check the functionality of the driver.
The current strength is measured using a multimeter; to do this, take the remaining diode and carry out the measurements yourself.
Taking into account the speed of the current, its power is selected for the laser cutter. For example, for some versions of laser devices the current strength can be 300-350 mA.
For other, more intense models, it is 500 mA, provided that a different driver device is used.
To make a homemade laser look more aesthetically pleasing and be more convenient to use, it needs a housing, which can easily be a steel flashlight powered by LEDs.
As a rule, the mentioned device is endowed with compact dimensions that will allow it to fit in your pocket. But to avoid contamination of the lens, you need to purchase or sew a cover in advance.
Features of production laser cutters
Not everyone can afford the price of a production-type metal laser cutter.
Such equipment is used for processing and cutting metal materials.
The principle of operation of a laser cutter is based on the production of powerful radiation by the tool, endowed with the property of evaporating or blowing out a molten metal layer.
This production technology when working with different types metal can provide high quality cut.
The depth of material processing depends on the type laser installation and characteristics of processed materials.
Today, three types of lasers are used: solid-state, fiber and gas.
The design of solid-state emitters is based on the use of specific types of glass or crystals as a working medium.
Here, as an example, we can cite inexpensive installations operating on semiconductor lasers.
Fiber - their active medium functions through the use of optical fibers.
This type of device is a modification of solid-state emitters, but according to experts, the fiber laser is successfully displacing its analogues from the field of metalworking.
Wherein optical fibers are the basis not only of the cutter, but also of the engraving machine.
Gas - the working environment of the laser device combines carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium gases.
Since the efficiency of the emitters under consideration is not higher than 20%, they are used for cutting and welding polymer, rubber and glass materials, as well as metal with high degree thermal conductivity.
Here, as an example, you can take a metal cutter produced by the Hans company; the use of a laser device allows you to cut copper, brass and aluminum; in this case, the minimum power of the machines only outperforms its analogues.
Drive operation diagram
Only a desktop laser can be operated from a drive, this type The device is a portal-console machine.
The laser unit can move along the guide rails of the device both vertically and horizontally.
As an alternative to the gantry device, a tablet model of the mechanism was made; its cutter moves only horizontally.
Other existing options laser machines have a work table equipped with a drive mechanism and endowed with the ability to move in different planes.
On this moment There are two options for controlling the drive mechanism.
The first ensures the movement of the workpiece due to the operation of the table drive, or the movement of the cutter is carried out due to the operation of the laser.
The second option involves moving the table and cutter simultaneously.
At the same time, the first control model is considered much simpler compared to the second option. But the second model still has high performance.
General technical characteristics In the cases considered, it is necessary to introduce a CNC unit into the device, but then the price for assembling the device for manual work will be higher.
Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today I am opening a series of articles devoted to high-power lasers, because Habrasearch says that people are looking for such articles. I want to tell you how you can make a fairly powerful laser at home, and also teach you how to use this power not just for the sake of “shine on the clouds.”
Warning!
The article describes the manufacture of a high-power laser ( 300mW ~ power 500 Chinese pointers), which can harm your health and the health of others! Be extremely careful! Use special safety glasses and do not direct the laser beam at people or animals!Let's find out.
On Habré, articles about portable Dragon Lasers, such as Hulk, appeared only a couple of times. In this article I will tell you how you can make a laser that is not inferior in power to most models sold in this store.Let's cook.
First you need to prepare all the components:- a non-working (or working) DVD-RW drive with a write speed of 16x or higher;
- capacitors 100 pF and 100 mF;
- resistor 2-5 Ohm;
- three AAA batteries;
- soldering iron and wires;
- collimator (or Chinese pointer);
- steel LED lamp.
This is the minimum required for making a simple driver model. The driver is, in fact, a board that will output our laser diode to the required power. You should not connect the power source directly to the laser diode - it will break down. The laser diode must be powered with current, not voltage.
A collimator is, in fact, a module with a lens that reduces all radiation into a narrow beam. Ready-made collimators can be purchased at radio stores. These immediately have a convenient place to install a laser diode, and the cost is 200-500 rubles.
You can also use a collimator from a Chinese pointer, however, the laser diode will be difficult to attach, and the collimator body itself will most likely be made of metallized plastic. This means our diode will not cool well. But this is also possible. This option can be found at the end of the article.
Let's do it.
First you need to get the laser diode itself. This is a very fragile and small part of our DVD-RW drive - be careful. A powerful red laser diode is located in the carriage of our drive. You can distinguish it from a weak one by its larger radiator than that of a conventional IR diode.It is recommended to use an antistatic wrist strap as the laser diode is very sensitive to static voltage. If there is no bracelet, then you can wrap the diode leads with thin wire while it waits for installation in the case.
According to this scheme, you need to solder the driver.
Don't mix up the polarity! The laser diode will also fail instantly if the polarity of the supplied power is incorrect.
The diagram shows a 200 mF capacitor, however, for portability, 50-100 mF is quite enough.
Let's try.
Before installing the laser diode and assembling everything into the housing, check the functionality of the driver. Connect another laser diode (non-working or the second one from the drive) and measure the current with a multimeter. Depending on the speed characteristics, the current strength must be chosen correctly. For 16 models, 300-350mA is quite suitable. For the fastest 22x, you can even supply 500mA, but with a completely different driver, the manufacture of which I plan to describe in another article.
Looks terrible, but it works!
Aesthetics.
A laser assembled by weight can only be boasted of in front of the same crazy techno-maniacs, but for beauty and convenience it is better to assemble it in a convenient case. Here it’s better to choose for yourself how you like it. I mounted the entire circuit into a regular LED flashlight. Its dimensions do not exceed 10x4cm. However, I do not recommend carrying it with you: you never know what claims the relevant authorities may make. It is better to store it in a special case so that the sensitive lens does not become dusty.This is an option with minimal costs - a collimator from a Chinese pointer is used:
Using a factory-made module will allow you to get the following results:
The laser beam is visible in the evening:
And, of course, in the dark:
Maybe.
Yes, in the following articles I want to tell and show how such lasers can be used. How to make much more powerful specimens, capable of cutting metal and wood, and not just lighting matches and melting plastic. How to make holograms and scan objects to create 3D Studio Max models. How to make powerful green or blue lasers. The scope of application of lasers is quite wide, and one article cannot do it here.We need to remember.
Don't forget about safety precautions! Lasers are not a toy! Take care of your eyes!Many people know about the possibilities of laser technologies and their benefits. They are used not only in industry, but also in cosmetology, medicine, everyday life, art and other areas of human life. However, not everyone knows how to make a laser at home. But it can be built from scrap materials. To do this, you will need a non-working DVD drive, a lighter or a flashlight.
Before going to home, you need to collect everything necessary elements. First of all, you need to disassemble the DVD drive. To do this, unscrew all the screws that hold the top and bottom covers of the device. Next, the main cable is disconnected and the board is unscrewed. The protection of diodes and optics must be broken. The next step is to remove the diode, which is usually done with pliers. To prevent static electricity from damaging the diode, its legs must be tied with wire. You must remove the diode carefully so as not to break the legs.
Next, before making a laser at home, you need to make a driver for the laser, which is represented by a small circuit that regulates the power supply to the diode. The fact is that if the power is set incorrectly, the diode can quickly fail. You can use AA batteries or a mobile phone battery as a power source.
Before you make a laser at home, you need to take into account the fact that the burning effect is provided by optics. If it is not there, then the laser will simply shine. As optics, you can use a special lens from the same drive from which the diode was taken. To set the focus correctly, you need to use a laser pointer.
In order to build a regular pocket laser, you can use a regular lighter. However, before you make a laser from a lighter, you need to know the construction technology. It is best to purchase a high-quality incendiary element. It needs to be disassembled, but the parts should not be thrown away, as they will still be useful in the design. If there is gas left in the lighter, it must be released. Then the insides must be turned out using a drill with special attachments. Inside the lighter body there is a diode from the drive, several resistors, a switch and a battery. All elements of the lighter need to be installed in their places, after which the button that previously lit the flame will turn on the laser.
However, to construct the device, you can use not only a lighter, but also a flashlight. Before you make a laser from a flashlight, you need to take the laser block from the CD drive. In principle, the structure of a homemade laser in a flashlight is no different from the structure of a laser in a lighter. You just need to take into account the power supply, which almost never exceeds 3 V, and it is also advisable to build an additional voltage stabilizer. It will increase the life. It is very important to take into account the polarity of the diode and stabilizer.
All assembled filling must be placed in the body of the disassembled flashlight. First, not only the inner part, but also the glass is removed from the flashlight. After installing the laser unit, the glass is installed in place.