How to Choose a Handheld Laser Pointer

When most people think of lasers, they think of harmless laser pointers that they use for pointing at stuff in the classroom or just to play around with. Little do they realize that lasers have the potential to be much more powerful--so much so, that over the next few centuries, they'll play an increasingly common role in the military, while projectile weapons take on a less and less important role--eventually fading into complete nonexistence over the next few millennia.

Somewhere in between the harmless laser pointer and laser weapons is the handheld laser pointer, commonly used in astronomy, thermal experiments, and long-distance illumination. While the handheld laser pointer is too weak to be considered a weapon, many have the ability to pop balloons and burn through cardboard or thick plastic. If you're looking for info on how to choose a handheld laser pointer, read on, and learn exactly how to choose it.

Instructions

1. Decide on a wavelength. Red, green, and blue are common colors to choose from, with red operating around 660nm, green at 532nm, and blue at 473nm. For a more unique color, get a yellow handheld laser pointer, which operates at 593.5nm, and for no color at all, the infrared laser is completely invisible at 1064nm.

2. Choose a power. The standard laser pointer operates at around 3-5mW, while the most powerful handheld lasers can be strong as 400mW--or 100x as powerful as a standard laser pointer. To put this in perspective, military-grade lasers need to be at least 100kW, or 250,000x as powerful as a handheld laser pointer, and 25 million times as powerful as a standard laser pointer.

   How powerful of a handheld laser pointer you get depends on what you want to use it for. For pointing out objects, brighter is always better. If you want a clear beam in the night sky--get at least a 35mW, for igniting matches--get a 150mW, for igniting a fireworks fuse--at least a 300mW is necessary, and for burning through cardboard or thick plastic--get a 400mW.

3. Determine your desired sustained and peak outputs. Because the power of a handheld laser pointer peaks and then declines, lasers are rated in sustained--the average output power over a period of time, and peak--the highest output power the laser will reach before the power begins to decline.

   The best handheld laser pointer will have a sustained output measured over a longer period of time than a cheap handheld laser pointer. This is because it's easy to inflate the sustained output measurement if you measure for a short period of time around the peak, rather than measuring for a longer period after the power output has stabilized and has dropped well below the peak.

Tips & Warnings

• Infrared lasers are good for IR experimentation as well as for experiments that produce green laser light.

• For info on how to choose other types of lasers, check the resources below.

• Never shine handheld laser pointers on eyes or skin, as they can damage eyes instantaneously and burn skin.

Resources

• How to Choose a Laser Pointer Pen
• How to Choose a Laser Pointer for a Presentation