laser in "The Manhattan Project?"

[gottaluvlasers]

any one ever see this movie? classic 80's movie. well, not so "classic," in the mainstream sense, but for all of us geeks here, im sure its a classic!

the laser that is used "LOOKS" like an argon. however they blast a hole in a sheet of solid metal.

*IS* there a laser that is capable of doing this in the visible spectrum? at the distance shown in the video clip? or is this hollywood trickery?

i know there are military lasers, and co2 and such. but it looks to me, like this is a relativley smaller frame laser system. it all fits on a table. (obviously 3 phase and water and such, but smaller compared to the systems used for blasting missiles out of the sky)

whatcha guys and gals think?

-Marc

[trwalters001]

Beeeee-Essssss

Blasting holes in metals requires LOTS of power at the correct wavelength. CO2 doesn't work very well on metals unless you get into the multi-kilowatt area. Nd-Yag works better at 1.06u. To blast a hole in (what looks like) a 1" metal plate that quickly would require MANY kilowatts and you wouldn't want to be lounging around the area smoking cigars!

Tim

[Laser Ben]

Wait.. If it was during the Manhattan project, the one that created the nuclear bomb... There were no lasers... Am I the only one seeing a timing issue here?

[300EVIL]

Beeeee-Essssss

Blasting holes in metals requires LOTS of power at the correct wavelength. CO2 doesn't work very well on metals unless you get into the multi-kilowatt area. Nd-Yag works better at 1.06u. To blast a hole in (what looks like) a 1" metal plate that quickly would require MANY kilowatts and you wouldn't want to be lounging around the area smoking cigars!

Tim

Yeah, The argon they were using is about the same as Imagelight's argon. Great for lighting cigars! See SELEM DVD. No way in hell has an argon ever put out enough power to cut steel at all. My guess is that the hole was already in the steel and they filled it with sparky combustible material, like flash powder, to simulate it cutting. You can cut steel with an IR laser like a YAG or CO2 but it would have to be a ginormus unit to punch through 1 inch steel that fast.

[buffo]

I agree that there's no way you'd do that with an argon, but you *can* cut steel with a visible light laser. It's pretty low on the visibility scale, but you can see it. I'm talking about a ruby laser.

I've got a book that shows a 500 joule ruby laser that is blasting through a steel plate. I don't remember off the top of my head how thick the plate was, but if it wasn't a full inch thick it was darned close. The ruby rod was 5/8 of an inch in diameter and was pumped by an array of 8 flashlamps. It was cooled with liquid nitrogen.

Not the most efficient design, certainly. But you can cut lots of things with a high power ruby laser.

Still, for the movie, I think 300Evil is right... They probably drilled the hole and filled it with flash powder, then painted over the hole to make it look solid.

Adam

[daedal]

I have always wanted to have a ruby laser, unfortunately, haven't yet scrounged one up...

I keep hearing about how efficient, powerful, and reliable they are, but they're not cheap either...

--DDL

P.S. I have seen a video of one of the old army 'pointing lasers' cutting a soda can... quite slow as they are pulsed, bu it did it...

[buffo]

Hey Mo...

300Evil has a small ruby laser that he's mounted in an old army ammo box. It's pretty neat! He had it with him at SELEM 2008, and that was seriously cool as most of us had never seen a ruby laser in real life. The 694 nm light it produces is a deep crimson red. Of course it only fires a single pulse... Then you have to re-charge the capacitor bank. But it will blow a hole in a dollar bill! And thanks to persistence of vision, you can just barely make out the color when it flashes.

Not sure what it's rated at, but I would guess somewhere around 20 joules or so.

Adam

[daedal]

Hey Mo...

300Evil has a small ruby laser that he's mounted in an old army ammo box. It's pretty neat! He had it with him at SELEM 2008, and that was seriously cool as most of us had never seen a ruby laser in real life. The 694 nm light it produces is a deep crimson red. Of course it only fires a single pulse... Then you have to re-charge the capacitor bank. But it will blow a hole in a dollar bill! And thanks to persistence of vision, you can just barely make out the color when it flashes.

Not sure what it's rated at, but I would guess somewhere around 20 joules or so.

Adam

That's cool!

Any advice on where I can snag one that is not DIY? I'm sure I'll either kill myself or screw it up big time if I try...

Can one be fit into this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nd-YAG-LASER-HEA...3A1|240%3A1318

This is assuming I can find a polished ruby rod and suitable power supply and pulse forming mechanism...

--DDL

[mixedgas]

Quote:
No way in hell has an argon ever put out enough power to cut steel at all.
end quote:

Well, I guess today it snowed in hell ;-)

You want to make a bet on that?????

Dr Sergei Babin might disagree with you :-)

550 watts is the unclassified figure. God only knows what they have built in government labs. Off the shelf Argons are limited to 40 watts by international treaty, as they are VERY useful in nuclear materials work.

Up until 2 years ago Dr B. would sell you 70 watts off the shelf, and you could line them up in a row for more. There is a trick or two, to doing it, and I know what it is, and I ain't talking. A 60X sized tube can do 7 watts if you know the trick, and are willing to invest in the support equipment to do it.

Steve

[buffo]

550 watts of Argon??? YGBSM!

Damn Steve... If it were anyone else, I'd have to say "pics or it didn't happen." But I'm not going to take you up on the bet. You've always got an ace up your sleve!

OK - I stand corrected then. Evidently there *is* a way to get that much power out of an argon. Still, as far as the movie is concerned, it's bunk. (No way the producer would have gotten his hands on such a rig.)

I'm curious about how you're going to get 7 watts out of a single 60X tube though... Does this involve artificially enlarging the resonator with something like a Q-switch?

And what sort of nuclear materials research are you talking about? Surely not laser initiated fusion?

Adam