New School VS. Old School

[Doc]

OPSLs and photonic crystal media are coming down in price; I can only imagine that soon we will get multi-milliwatt RGB single-chip devices.

Woah! Just Googled "photonic crystal media" and found "Electromagnetically Induced Transparency"! Sometimes you just have to roll over and admit that somethings are beyond your comprehension. For me; this is one of those times.

[keeperx]

there is not (currently) and OPSL red. but thats a technology thats a bit off in the distance for laser display.

Lasers are 1st scientific, 2nd medical and 3rd display
now the NEW technology is all scientific stuff.. then you have the big money ise in medical field and we get the leftovers as they come down the pipe.

now that diodes have come all the way down the pipe, they are the obvious choice when it comes to COST but are lacking in quality. things like the optical feedback loop that DZ is working on are going to change that tho

[heroic]

Woah! Just Googled "photonic crystal media" and found "Electromagnetically Induced Transparency"! Sometimes you just have to roll over and admit that somethings are beyond your comprehension. For me; this is one of those times.

The specific thing I was thinking was, well. you can make a pump laser out of GaAs/AlGaAs. Then you can make an OPSL out of the same stuff, on the same chip. And you can make SHG crystals by photonic crystal methods, also on the same chip. And you can make dichros by MBE on the same chip. Potentially, you can make the entire optical table in a single chip with these technologies. This hasn't happened yet because volumes are small, but laser TV is coming, and that will drive volume for RGB laser dice.

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1063-7818/32/1/A11

Lasers are 1st scientific, 2nd medical and 3rd display

That was true before every computer included a DVD burner. These days lasers are first scientific, second data storage, and third consumer grade devices. These applications drive volume in the hundreds of millions of units, which is what you need to make custom semiconductors affordable.

[mixedgas]

Some of us have had optical feedback for years. And we've had pulse width modulation using a external modulator that blows anything you've seen out of the water as far as optical linearity goes.

Keeperx, my gripe as a "OLD Fogey" is you new guys try to do shows with 100-300 mW when you need 6 watts using the lame excuse that 532 is supposed to be 3-5x times brighter then a all lines argon, and the truth is , when stationary it is bright, but when scanned in fog, it looses the race.

Thats my gripe.

Steve

[heroic]

Heroic, there are three schemes.

Or alternatively, one of these: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freea...number=4382237

[drlava]

Gas or diode, there is still a big difference between the super-pro and home brew:

Pride:


Meh: ;~P

[ImageLight]

Speaking from an Old School perspective I'm really happy that laser projectors for the most part have decreased in price as this allows
for many more people to become involved in the hobby which keeps it
alive. If you think about it, there are very few (Pro) lasershow companies still doing business around the world and the demand for their services
is shrinking. Lasers in the old days (70's & 80's) were magical and the
wow factor was very high. Now, most people don't get excited over technology because we're always surrounded by it or, as Rodger Waters
wrote ''The human species has amused itself to death''. No matter
which direction you guys or gals choose (gas or diode laser) it's still
for the love of the light. IMHO if you've never had the opportunity
to play with Gas Ion Lasers, you've really missed out on alot of fun.

Mark

[keeperx]

this brings me to my next point....

The art of laser display is becoming less about the science of lasers and more about the art of display.. i know how my lasers work.. mostly... i understand what i need to about coherent light and mirrors and optics... but ill be damned if i understand anything that Steve just said... im not interested in learning all that stuff, i just want my colors and my scanners and my software, and the electronics needed to control the lot.. at that point its becomes a tool for display, like a computer monitor or LED wall or video projector.

this is the paradigm shift im talking about.. you dont need to be a laser tech to get into the art of laser display.. you DO have to be intelligent (or wealthy)...

[mixedgas]

Or alternatively, one of these: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freea...number=4382237

Novalux is crashing if not crashed. Their assets were for sale a while back.

Steve

[Laserman532]

Neener neener boo boo!!!