Pilots have welcomed moves to ban the importation of laser pointers, after another serious incident where lasers were shone at a flight on approach to Sydney Airport.
Aircraft were forced to divert approaches because of a coordinated, 15 minute attack involving four powerful green lasers last Friday.
Laser TV is a proposed new video display technology using laser optoelectronics. Although proposed as long ago as 1966, laser illumination remained too costly and too poor in performance to viably replace lamps except in some rare ultra-high-end projectors.
At the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in 2006, Novalux Inc., developer of Necsel™ semiconductor laser technology, demonstrated their laser illumination source for projection displays and a prototype rear-projection “laser” TV.
First reports on the development of a commercial Laser TV were published as early as 2006-02-16 with a decision on the large-scale availability of laser televisions expected by early 2008.
A Laser TV requires lasers in three distinct wavelengths: Red, Green and Blue. While red laser diodes are commercially available, there are no commercially available green and blue laser diodes which can provide the required power at room temperature with an adequate life time. Instead frequency doubling can be used to provide the blue and green wavelengths.
Non-polar GaN substrates and low-defect crystal growth will have an important part to play in powerful, practical green laser diodes.
Nine research groups have begun tackling the challenge of producing a high-power 500 nm semiconductor laser in a three-year US-based research program called VIGIL.
The teams met to initiate the program at the end of November, and they have until June 2009 to hit the first milestone and produce a workable green laser based on GaN.
VIGIL stands for Visible InGaN Injection Lasers, a name that reflects the need to include high proportions of indium to obtain green light from GaN-based laser diodes.
“There’s a technical problem with getting green [light] out of nitride material,” explained Henrik Temkyn, VIGIL’s program manager at the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “If you increase the amount of indium, the efficiency goes down.”
Applications requiring low-power lasers are expected to drive growth in the laser projection market, according to the latest report from Insight Media.
The first application to use laser projectors is expected to be rear-projection television (RPTV), driven primarily by the price and availability of lasers. That’s according to market analyst Insight Media, who also predicts that the largest single market will be pico-projectors – with sales projected to reach millions by 2012.
Who fired a laser at Didier Drogba during the West Ham game? Possibly Dr Evil…
So in The Sun today, not only are there pictures of bosoms, there’s a shocking revelation in the Drogba laser beam fiasco. The cops have been called.
For those of you who aren’t aware, one foolish West Ham fan shot a laser at Didier on Saturday, which according to Drog, prevented him from scoring.
Some might say this is a pathetic excuse, some might say he’s a trained athlete who shouldn’t be treated so badly. Anyway, now, in a welcome break from eating doughnuts, London’s “bizzies” are trying to find the Hammer who shone a green laser pen into Didier Drogba’s face.
A laser-driven motor has been demonstrated by Japanese researchers. Future versions could provide pinpoint mechanical control in places that electric motors cannot normally go, they say.
The motor was built by physicist Hideki Okamura ands colleagues at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.
After using laser “tweezers” to move microscopic objects around, Okamura was inspired to try manoeuvring larger things with lasers instead. “The new motor is relatively inefficient and lacks a reverse gear, but could find novel applications”, he says.
The motor consists of a copper disc with a hole at its centre. Green laser light – with a wavelength of 532 nanometres – causes the metal to get hot and expand, an effect that produces tiny fast-moving elastic waves on its surface.
LONDON (AFP) — Police confirmed Monday they were investigating an incident that saw a spectator shine a green ‘laser’ beam into the face of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba during his side’s 1-0 Premier League win at home to London rivals West Ham last weekend.
The supporter in question has yet to be identified but a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said: “When the matter was brought to the attention of officials at the time it was not possible to identify the person or persons responsible. We will continue to try to identify them.”
Ivory Coast striker Drogba said after Sunday’s match: “It’s difficult as you see this green light. This is a stupid fan I think.
“The rest of the West Ham fans were good. I think they supported their team. That’s what we want to see in the stadium, not these kind of things.”
Lasers are one thing that every geek really wants, but few of us actually need. Sure they might be useful for scientific applications, and occasionally pointing, but when it comes down to it most of us don’t have any real reasons for buying one.
Maybe it’s because lasers are one of the rare items seen in science-fiction films that we actually have access to. Or maybe it’s because a laser brings us one step closer to the holy grail of geekdom, the lightsaber. To be honest though, I have no idea what the real reason is.
What I do know is that when Wicked Lasers asked me if I wanted to review their new Photonic Disruptor model, they had me at the word ‘laser.’
In addition, not many people know this but OhGizmo! has an official policy of reviewing any device with the terms ‘Photonic’ and ‘Disruptor’ in its name. Not surprisingly, this laser is the first.
The U.S. State Department has a high-tech solution to keeping its security contractors from killing any more Iraqi civilians unnecessarily: Give the mercs laser dazzlers and helmet cameras.
U.S. officials also tell ABC News that “the State Department plans to double the number of its diplomatic security agents to 90 so that one of its agents can accompany every convoy guarded by Blackwater and other private security contractors.”
This isn’t the first time the dazzlers — which temporarily blind targets, with pulses of green laser light – have been pitched as life-savers for non-combatants in Iraq.
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Pilots have welcomed moves to ban the importation of laser pointers, after another serious incident where lasers were shone at a flight on approach to Sydney Airport.
