Underwater laser, just add shark

posted Oct 12th 2009 11:00am by Mike Szczys
filed under: laser hacks, news

underwater-laser-beam

[iskor12] put together a blu-ray laser that is waterproof and packs quite a punch. At 182 mW there is enough power here to pop dark colored balloons (see the video after the break). To make this happen, he found an LED flashlight that has rubber o-rings for waterproofing. Although small, there is enough space in the case to house the battery, driver, and laser diode. A thick ring of aluminum is placed around the laser diode to act as heat sink.

We’ll admit, we don’t know that much about lasers. This is probably the wrong question to ask, but now that he has this what do you do with it? Leave us a comment about your plans for this diabolical creation.

[Thanks Bob]

Comments [29]

tagged: flashlight, laser, sharks with lasers, under water, waterproof

Reader Comments

“This is probably the wrong question to ask, but now that he has this what do you do with it? ” Wear safety goggles. Reflected laser light is not to be screwed with. You get one set of eyes.

That said, it’s interesting. Red light is absorbed & dispersed ≈100 times faster in liquid water than light approaching UV wave lengths. A blue, violet-blue laser will travel farther than a red laser pointer at the same power. Liquid water reflects and transmits shorter wavelengths of light. It would be a great tool if it can stand the depth for pointing out interesting objects in the water if one were snorkeling or diving.

Other uses, defeating balloon zombies, balloon vampires, and balloon ravers. Oh, and attaching to ravenous foul tempered bass.

Posted at 11:15 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by DW

Balloon: “Oh shi, looks like I’m not safe here any…HNNNGGGGGG”

Scuba laser tag anyone?

Posted at 11:31 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by _matt

S T O P _ W E E I N G _ Y O U R S E L F

I T S _ R E A L L Y _ A W F U L L

! ! !

Posted at 11:31 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by jan

First, I second this “Wear safety goggles. Reflected laser light is not to be screwed with. You get one set of eyes.” And when saying “Safety goggles” that means the goggle has to be rated for the wavelength of laser you are working on. No, you cannot find them at the Home Depot. :)

What can we do with this? Well, I’ll blind the sharks that would attack me! :P How about underwater Laser Spearing! :P

Posted at 11:34 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by Concino

I hope you have some filter goggles for that thing.

A similar project measured almost 9mW laser output with 190mW of current draw. Anything near that range is going to burn your eyes out long before the blink reflex kicks in. Even though specular reflection and beam viewing aren’t going to cause eye injury, the pointer form factor lends itself to accidents.

Keep in mind that were this a commercial laser, it would fall in Class IIIb and be required to have a key interlock and time delay to activate (!)

Posted at 11:38 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by toaste

Well, if we’re ever attacked by the evil Galactic Overlords of dark balloons, we’ll have the last laugh.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahha.

Posted at 11:51 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by vonskippy

This would be incredibly useful underwater as a pointing device, particularly with students. I agree, the power is probably a little high. However, a toned down laser would be great.

The ability to point things out at distance, or even as an attention getter would make this a handy tool. Because of the sediment and other material in the water, this thing will give a decent beam, visible off-axis from the beam. Keep it small, and rugged, and I’d grab one for my kit.

Posted at 11:51 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by Static

Is this thing strong enough to cut dark colored swimsuits? :)

Well usage for such a thing… like already said pointing to something as a diver.

And #1 the blue laser will be even more absorbed than the red light because it swings faster. I mean its the same effect by “why is our sky blue?” :)

cya chanz

Posted at 11:59 am on Oct 12th, 2009 by Chanz

Perhaps underwater measurement for deeper regions

Posted at 12:00 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by roboruss

For the record I am well away of all safety percautions for this laser.

Second. As for my plans with it? Well the main reason why I made this laser water tight was so that it could be used outside in the rain or snow. Plus, blu-ray looks absolutely amazing underwater.

Third…If you have any questions about the build, just go to the Laserpointer forums website that they linked.

Later,
Iskor12

Posted at 12:28 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Iskor12

Nice! Congrats…

In case anybody wants to know, that beam shot in my pool, is at 8′ deep. Iskor12 sent his under water laser to me to test it in my pool. It is a very nice build!

Posted at 12:36 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by jayrob

In the lab next to us (underwater robotics) there’s a group performing research on underwater communication via optics and is doing this with the lasers from HD-DVD drives (xbox 360 drives post HD-DVD death) which are also blue laser diodes. It’s a neat project and might one day find a home on our SeaWolf :-).

Posted at 12:41 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Matthias

Thanks Jayrob!!!

Later
Iskor12

Posted at 12:45 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Iskor12

This would be great for helping certain (drunken) people understand that inhaling helium and talking in the funny voice is only funny the first 8 times they do it at one party.

Posted at 12:47 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Rob

get 10 of these and build a stand to hold them so that all beams converge at 10 ft or so and pop light er balloons or give your brother a lazer burn while hes hogging the xbox

Posted at 12:52 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by jadon

Wonder how many fish you could get to follow the dot? hehe

Posted at 2:05 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by PiXEL8

Pointing things out underwater would be amusing

“And over here is the rare black puffer fish”
*foom*
“oh… here are parts of the now extinct black puffer fish”

“Hey bob, I think there’s something wrong with your scuba pipe just here…”
*FSSHHHHHHHH*

Posted at 2:06 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by James

This would be pretty good at burning out the CCDs in digital cameras. There was an article on Endgadget not too long ago about some Russian billionaire that was using sensors to pick up the auto focus light and lasers to attack the CCD’s in paparazzi’s cameras.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/22/roman-abramovichs-eclipse-has-anti-photo-laser-shield/

Posted at 2:21 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by polymath

1. turn it into a laser line
2. attach this and a webcam to the bottom of a rover
3. do detailed 3d scans of small patches of sea floor
4. have some good reason why you would do that
5. profit

Posted at 3:54 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by tantris

these blue lasers are really pretty, but definitely more dangerous than they look. they don’t seem nearly as bright as a red or green laser, but can do a lot more damage to your eyes. i played around with one several months ago, and caught a few blind spots. all it takes is a quick flash from a misaligned mirror or something. it is a little scary how easy these are to get now. especially when you see the stupid things kids do with their cheap red lasers.

Posted at 4:00 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by charlie

Very true Charlie.
I will have to say….
One thing that never stops amazing me is how bright the beam is underwater.

Later,
Iskor12

Posted at 5:42 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Iskor12

Well, the USN has been experimenting with this sort of laser for years, trying to figure out if they can devise a better (more secure) form of real-time communication between subs and surface ships.

Posted at 5:56 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by Serpent7

Communication would be a great use. This added to the multi color laser that was posted here a few weeks ago would make for a great device to scan liquids in clear containers. Then we’d all be able to bring them on planes again. I’d turn the emitted power down enough that it wouldn’t cause an explosive to detonate. Although, I suppose if the Navy wanted a way to remotely detonate an underwater explosive, this would be it.

Posted at 6:10 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by MrEUser

Oh yeah, and another thing. Highly directional communication between divers would be a good thing too.

Posted at 6:12 pm on Oct 12th, 2009 by MrEUser

If you added enough power I suppose you could cause Hydrogen and Oxygen to separate in sea water. Then you’d have a component of breathable air and something for fuel. Or you could put them back together and have desalinated water. I assume power consumption would be at the ridiculous level and what you’d get out of it isn’t worth it. But if you really wanted to use lasers in the process of creating potable water, I suppose this could do it as well as anything.

Posted at 3:13 am on Oct 13th, 2009 by MrEUser

That thing must light cigars like nobodies business.

Posted at 3:41 am on Oct 13th, 2009 by Coyotecom

I can’t believe nobody has quoted Austin Powers yet:

“All I asked for was frickin’ sharks with lasers attached to their heads!”

Now Dr. Evil’s empire can be completed… all thanks to lskor12. Way to go, you’ve now doomed mankind :D

Posted at 8:06 am on Oct 13th, 2009 by uzerzero

@uzerzero
probably because the title of the posting alluded to the movie

Posted at 3:34 pm on Oct 13th, 2009 by anon

I would go to a little kids birthday party and make them all cry…hahahhahah

Posted at 10:34 am on Oct 15th, 2009 by david

Underwater laser, just add shark

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