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Blu-ray Laser Gadget

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hundred-bucks-a-milliwatt dept.

i4u writes, "Wicked Lasers has done the unthinkable. They took the sparse blue laser diodes used in Blu-ray Disc drives and are making cool laser gadgets out of them, called Sonar. You can own one of these very limited edition lasers for $1,999.99. The price is that high because Wicked Lasers buys Blu-ray Disc players and removes the Blu-ray diode for the Sonar laser."

33 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Beyond publicity, is there a point? by Salvance · · Score: 4, Insightful

    OK, so it seems pretty crazy to junk a blu-ray just to grab the laser, but there must be some reason they are doing this other than the publicity, right? Can someone explain the importance of a blue laser over a regular handheld red laser of the same power that sells for ~$20? Or is it just supposed to be cool looking?

    Looking online, I see that the standard price for blue laser pointers is over $1000 (here's the cheapest I found, which has a longer wavelength and lower power than the Blu-ray) ... are these so expensive just because they're expensive to make, or is there massive demand that keeps that the price up (and if so, what is that demand based on)?

    --
    Crack - Free with every butt and set of boobs
    1. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by Associate · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sucker frequency: 1.67x10^-2Hz

      --
      Someone hates these cans.
    2. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can someone explain the importance of a blue laser over a regular handheld red laser of the same power that sells for ~$20?

      It's blue.

    3. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by Kemanorel · · Score: 3, Informative

      This one's cheaper...

      All that searching and the cheapest source for one is right at the top of this page. ;-)

      --
      Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
    4. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by general+scruff · · Score: 2, Funny

      You have a good point. And to take that a step further, who says they are "Junking" the Blue Ray player!!

      1. Buy a blue ray player for $1500
      2. Sell the laser for $2000
      3. Wait until blue lasers come down in price (say 6 months to a year)
      4. Put a laser in your *free* blue ray player
      5. ...
      6. PROFIT!!


      Its a brilliant plan!

      --
      As a rule, I never trust dark brown ketchup.
    5. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by ottffssent · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Blue is cool. Also, hard to do. Between the two, you get expensive.

      Red lasers are cheap because they're cheap to make, though the suspiciously cheap ones are, indeed, suspiciously cheaply made. Green lasers are pretty close to the human eye's peak responsiveness, so they appear brighter at a given power level than red or blue lasers.

      There are all manner of lasers. CO2, Argon, and other gas lasers. Chemical lasers. Diode lasers. And several other varieties. Hand-held (and small bench) lasers are commonly diode lasers. Low-power red laser diodes are approximately free, which is why they show up everywhere. Infrared laser diodes aren't terribly expensive, even fairly high-powered ones. There is no such thing as a green laser diode. Hand-held green lasers are DPSS lasers, in which a high power infrared laser blasts a fancy neodymium compound that outputs a different infrared frequency that in turn hits a frequency-doubling crystal which finally outputs 532nm green light.

      The take-home message here is that blue laser light is hard to get so it's expensive. It's also not terribly useful unless you actually need the high frequency for denser data packing. Green laser light is harder to get than red laser light, but in addition to looking cool it legitimately is more visible per watt. Check out the CIE luminosity function - 650nm red light appears about 8x dimmer per watt than 532nm green light. A $100 15mW green laser therefore should appear almost as bright as a $200 200mW red laser. Even though production of green laser light is less efficient than production of red laser light, the green laser should consume somewhat less power than the red one.

      --
      High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
    6. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by TheGavster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What I find interesting is that they sell 3 other models of blue laser, at $2500, $3000, and $3500 depending on power (the bluray one falls in has the same power as the $2500 one and a shorter wavelength). Apparently, pulling the laser from home theater equipment is the *cheap* way to get a blue laser diode these days.

      --
      "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
    7. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by kimvette · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Apparently, pulling the laser from home theater equipment is the *cheap* way to get a blue laser diode these days.


      Is it?

      http://www.laserglow.com/bluepointer.html
      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    8. Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point? by kbaud · · Score: 2, Informative

      - The big diff between the $1k and $2k blue laser is the frequency. 473nm vs 405nm. It is not unusual to see a 5x price difference between 100nm of emission. Same thing with LEDs.
      - Basically, there is quite a bit you can do with 405nm that you can't do or do as well with say 650nm (red). Briefly: fluoroscopy, higher speed optical comms, nano-scale work, gas spectroscopy, holographic storage, etc. As we get into the higher frequencies even more applications such as portable weapons, etc.
      - The average home has 1/2 dozen or more laser diodes. Most are in the cheaper/lower frequencies. As the cost comes done on the higher frequencies, this will open up the floodgates. If you recall, when laser were first invented they were called a, "good idea with no practical use". Sound like some of the posts to this thread?
      - The higher the frequency, the more effective the energy against the target. As a result, a 20mw 405nm is more destructive than a 60mw 650nm for example. Incidentally, the reason laser diode power output is rising in disk players is that is allows the disk to be spun faster. This maintains the average energy per data area. Historically, the biggest impediment to faster CDR/RW speeds has been the availability of the high power laser diodes. We are going to continue to see applications held up by the availability of sufficient laser diodes in desired frequencies and power levels until investment dramatically increases.
      - One of the difficulties with the higher frequencies is that the same energetic advantages of the wavelength work against the very materials of the diode. Basically the diode attacks itself. This reduces the lifespan of the device for a particular drive level. Early blue laser diodes had a lifespan measured in 100s of hours. The 405nm devices used in the disk players may only be good for 2-5k hours, depending on the drive level. This will improve of course. Eventually the 405nm 20mw devices will cost less than $5 and last 50k hours or more.
      - Basically, putting an expensive laser diode in a handheld pointer is mostly for fun at this point. People with money who also know lasers realize that with a 405nm device they are going to see very unusual things. For example, imagine what a 405nm pointer looks like when shone against a 3d object painted with fluorescent material. Some people buy the latest game or sci-fi movie, others buy rare laser pointers. As these devices become more available, creative people will find more uses for them. Like I said earlier, laser diodes are already quite common in the average home or business.
      - Our government is going to have a real problem with high power laser diodes in the near future. Without going into details, advanced laser diodes can have significant public threat. Right now the law is fairly lax and not enforced. I am not for more laws but I don't want to have to wear eye protection every time I attend a public event. It will be a sticky issue and I hope that whatever the solution, it provides the most liberty for scientific experimentation.

  2. I see blue lasers... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wouldn't buying a PS3 be cheaper?

    1. Re:I see blue lasers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, but its terrible ackward to point with at the meetings.

  3. Even in China they can't get cheap lasers? by jeffmeden · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "The cost of a new Blu-ray disc player combined with international shipping, and import taxes raises the cost of obtaining a 405nm diode in China to approximately $1,500." I smell a lie... why don't they go down the street to the Chinese factory churning out these diodes for $5/unit and leave the marketing BS to Sony?

    1. Re:Even in China they can't get cheap lasers? by LesPaul75 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      why don't they ... leave the marketing BS to Sony?
      Well, probably because if they said "The cost of a blue diode from the factory down the street combined with international shipping, and import taxes raises the cost of obtaining a 405nm diode in China to approximately $8," then they would have a hard time selling them for $2000.
    2. Re:Even in China they can't get cheap lasers? by tricorn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If the best way to get a blue laser diode is from a player, why not pull it from an HD-DVD player instead, as they're selling for a lot cheaper and have the same blue laser in it, right?

  4. You fool! by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't you know that there's a shortage of blue ray laser diodes?! Every diode you have is another PS3 that some poor kid who is willing to spend $600 doesn't have. Won't you think of the children? Or at least your fellow gamer.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  5. Make sure to check out their videos by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Informative

    While they don't have any of the blue laser yet, the Wicked Laser Videos show off their other high-powered products. These things are powerful enough to light a match, blow up a balloon, burn a hole in your drywall, and other fun party tricks. What's cool about it, though, is that the laser is powerful enough to make the backscatter visible. i.e. You can see the beam!

    It's enough to make one wonder: How feasible is a handheld laser weapon? (Say, a few watts?) I realize that the key issue is that the laser does very little damage as it passes through an object. (Actually, it leaves a hole the diameter of the beam. Not very large.) However, I could see the laser rotating through a small arc during fire. That would at least carve out a centimeter or two from the target...

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    1. Re:Make sure to check out their videos by Nos. · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How feasible is a handheld laser weapon? (Say, a few watts?) I realize that the key issue is that the laser does very little damage as it passes through an object. (Actually, it leaves a hole the diameter of the beam. Not very large.) However, I could see the laser rotating through a small arc during fire. That would at least carve out a centimeter or two from the target

      That's an interesting question. I suppose carving a hole in someone's brain or heart could cause serious problems almost immediately, but if the wound is cauterized as it is made, it may be a relatively ineffective weapon.

  6. There's something I need... by maynard · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...A $2000 laser pointer which outputs coherent light in the most difficult color spectrum for humans to see. I'll take one and a dozen pet rocks, please!

  7. Barely Visible! by Myriad · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Sheesh, this thing is down at 405nm... that's almost at the bottom of the visible spectrum. The funny thing is, that's so low it's not even blue anymore - it's violet!

    Other "blue" lasers are in the range of 473nm. Given the color responsiveness of the eye these already appear darker than their Red and Green cousins even at similar power output. And you can't really get high power blue lasers.

    So given that these are only 20mw and super low on the spectrum, I'd expect these are hardly visible in comparison with other pointers. A unique color, if you can see the damned thing.

    Seems pretty pointless to me really... why would anyone buy one?!

    --
    "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
  8. Spam!!!!!!!!! by zip0nada · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ah!!! Slashdot has been invaded by spammers! since when are we interested in $1,999.99 laser pointers that are made from a $1,000 drive? First of all it's a rip off, and second it's not news. This is an ad in disguise.

    1. Re:Spam!!!!!!!!! by Linker3000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Humblest Friend,

      My name is Kwame Ebola, attorney at Law and I have been referred to your esteemed self as a person of outstanding character who will help, my client, Mrs A Ohura, Widow of the late Mr Kim Ohura, founder of the highly successful company known as Wei-Kid Lasers. Mr Ohura founded his company not long ago with the aim to take apart fairly cheap laser-based products and use a small quantity of the parts to make something smaller that sells for a lot more money. Mr Ohura's business was very successful with many happy fool^h^h^h^h customers purchasing his noble products.

      Sadly, Mr Ohura suffered an untimely death when his private plane crashed while landing at his personal retreat near the delightful city of Lagos, Nigeria, when the pilot was blinded by a mysterious blue light - possibly due to witchcraft used by a rival company. Mr Ohura left the bulk of his fortune - some FIFTY SIX MILLION DOLLARS and TWENTY-FIVE BLUE LASER DIODES to his, wife, my client, but due to the complex inheritance laws in this country, my client needs a person outside the country to claim the estate to avoid Sony claming the diodes.

      Etc..

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
  9. Re:Stupid. by dattaway · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Using blu-ray hardware just to get the laser out of it? Won't the manufacturers sell them lasers instead? This seems utterly backwards.

    I took apart a double layer DVD player for the laser. Output is something over 200mW. The beam puts out some heat and can be used as a tool. You won't find this laser pointer in a store for obvious reasons. Its a $50 cutting torch.

    The narrow wavelength from this laser may be more interesting as things can fluoresce.

  10. Re:WTF? by nietsch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well we are being told that it has a 3 Volt lithium battery in it and a 20 mW blue laser, so we can take guesses how long you can play with this blue laser thingie before the battery runs down.

    Honestly, this is one of the most hollow slashvertisments I have seen in a long time. They are selling something, but we are not told why it is so good to spend 2K on it. My gues is they have bought 0 (zero) BlueRay players and created a mockup so somebody would pay them to take a blueray player apart (and put it's laser into a useless thingie).

    --
    This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
  11. Warning! by Lethyos · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do not look directly into laser with remaining eye!

    --
    Why bother.
  12. Yay by lostwars · · Score: 2, Funny

    New cat toy! I can't wait to give this to my cat. Plus in most areas its illegal to point lasers at anything that isn't white. Or at least not at airplanes. Its now a federal offense.

  13. Re:WTF? by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the wavelength of 405nm is right on the edge of the visible spectrum. i'm not even sure you can display that color on a typical RGB monitor.

  14. Only fun until someone loses and eye! by RingDev · · Score: 3, Funny

    $2k for a laser to show off to your friends.

    $10k for corrected surgery to attempt to salvage vision after someone peeks at the source.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  15. $2k laser by neuro.slug · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can it be mounted on a shark?

    1. Re:$2k laser by McMoose · · Score: 2, Funny
      But can it be mounted on a shark?

      No, but it fits nicely on an ill-tempered sea bass.

      --
      ... The idiots are ALREADY more creative.
  16. Re:No, it's a publicity stunt... by jdray · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It makes you wonder if they actually constructed one of these blue lasers, or if it's just vaporware...

    --
    The Spoon
    Updated 6/28/2011
  17. Re:Stupid. by dattaway · · Score: 3, Informative

    Explain how to make something that actually cuts out of a DL-DVD laser, for a non-electronics geek, please? I'd like to mess with one.

    I see another person did it too!

    http://www.felesmagus.com/pages/lasers-howto.html

    When you take the laser assembly out, you'll notice two of them mounted to little heatsinks. One of the two puts out light well into the visible red spectrum and the other is useless.

    You can use the usual optical feedback supply to run at peak output, but since this dvd laser application used no feedback, neither did I. I hooked it directly up to the 5 volts from a USB cable through a 10 ohm resistor. You might want to steal a lens off another laser or a camera. If you don't use a lens, the beam spread will light up half the room.

    This would be a good time to consider buying some eyewear that will filter out the red, because an accidental burst can get focused onto your retina. That would be bad.

  18. Total Bullshit by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA:

    "The cost of the Sonar is mainly due to the high price of laser diodes which are taken from Blu-ray disc players. The cost of a new Blu-ray disc player combined with international shipping, and import taxes raises the cost of obtaining a 405nm diode in China to approximately $1,500."

    Either these guys a clinically stupid, or they're totally full of shit.

    You can buy a brand new, already-imported, Sony BD-RW drive for under $500 according to the PC Connection catalog that is on my desk right now, and you can get a Sony standalone player for $799. They're paying $1500 for them? I bet they making the whole thing up and he's just holding a piece of (poorly) machined aluminum or a regular laser pointer in the picture. It's a ploy to get you to go to their website that you wouldn't have ever heard of otherwise. They priced it at $2k so that nobody would buy one, and they're hoping you'll pick up an overpriced green pointer while you're there.

  19. Re:Remarkable comments on the price tag by Slashcrap · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A lot of Slashdot users are bashing this company because it has created an expensive and sort of pointless product.

    I'm bashing them because of the incredible waste of materials that would result if these actually sell (which of course they won't). Apart from all the crap that will end up in landfills, most people simply don't appreciate the amount of energy that goes into manufacturing the components in something like a BluRay player.

    I'm not going to suggest that this kind of thing should be banned or in any way prevented.

    It's just that I'd quite like it if a truly horrible accident befell the person who thought it up. Preferably something involving rats.