I wonder how long before we get a "matrix laser" flashlight

zespectre

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Once all the US regulatory hurdles are hammered out I think the "matrix laser" headlights have a (pun intended) bright future.
So being the lumen inspired nut I am, I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before someone builds a portable version, or even a hand held flashlight version.

Of course I also sometimes wonder if there is even a point given that the power of some of the latest gen LED emitters may already be more powerful than the matrix laser arrays.

Osram Matrix Laser Headlights

Neat You Tube video demo of the BMW laser matrix headlamps (I didn't know the blue laser in question was strong enough to burn things)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h29SwJDXMBc
 
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eh4

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The Christmas light lasers are available right now to be messed with, looks like they generate "white" laser light by first combining green and red, then adding blue, so the CRI might be lacking.
 

FRITZHID

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RGB "white line" lasers are quite different than this laser to phosphor design. I've been tinkering with both recently and the excited phosphor prospect has merit. If they can shrink the package, eliminate as much of distortion in the beam path and keep the phosphor & laser cool enough to not degrade rapidly, I can see someone making a handheld laser excited phosphor flashlight.
As far as a white line laser flashlight.... That's not such a good idea.
 

horizonseeker

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Weltool from China (a new brand) has announced its white laser flashlight, using blue laser to excite phosphor as part of the process to create white laser.

Hopefully we'll see a sample soon, they are planning to be on CPF soon.
 

jorn

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When the lazer headlights for bmw arrived, it cost ~10 000$ extra if you wanted lazer headlight on your car. The prices prob have gone down since then, but i bet it's still really expensive.
 

idleprocess

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Wicked Lasers had an attachment for one of their blue lasers years ago that would convert it into a flashlight. Basically made it like a white LED with a phosphor disc and optics.

EDIT
There's a "Phosforce" laser flashlight.

That was the branding.

Pretty sure it's a niche thing since blue lasers are costly - and at last glance not terribly efficient relative to LED.
 
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chillinn

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It would not be a laser, but is it possible, with either an incan or LED source, and using a reflector, optic, and/or a long enough hood or light-shielding tube (but one short enough to be practical and carried), to force all the light coming from a flashlight to be parallel, or only allow light to escape that is parallel to the aiming direction, with absolutely no spill, giving a dead straight pencil-beam and the appearance of a laser? I do notice, especially in the cold of winter, that breathing vapor or blowing smoke over the beam of a well-focused and throwy incan turns it into a lightsaber, but only if the spill is ignored.
 

Agpp

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Some suspect that Acebeam W10 is actually laser powered. Except not matrix - which wouldn't make sense in a flashlight.
 

Marinebeam

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The Weltool claims to have 125,000 Candela (so slightly less than the Illuminator RLT LED XM-L). It's a nice small package however. The benefit of laser is not efficiency, as they are less efficient than LED, but they don't suffer from droop, and can have extremely high luminance, on the order of 1,000,000,000 candela m^2 with only about 10W. This very small source enables very tight beam angles, and long throw. It also enables more precise control of a beam using traditional optics (vs LED). Interestingly, like LED, it also lends itself to candela compounding with the RLT optic. This can then double the candela, while also shifting the wavelength to a more flashlight-like white color.

The challenge with white laser is that the thermal energy is happening in a very small spot - around 300 microns in diameter. Traditional remote phosphors can't deal with that concentrated heat, which is why white laser projectors use rotating phosphor wheels. Wavien had several interesting patents in this area, and there are new phosphor plates being developed in glass (PiG) , ceramic, liquids, and other materials. This will be a quickly developing field, and we are developing prototypes (for military and commercial marine use) using the latest technology, as we speak. Most high-power diode pumped and fiber delivered units will be expensive, but expect to see the price come down as the technology is miniaturized and matures. Automotive headlamps will surely be the big market, and expect to see active and vision guided headlamps interfacing with the car's sensors, GPS, pedestrians, wildlife, etc.
 

zespectre

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The challenge with white laser is that the thermal energy is happening in a very small spot - around 300 microns in diameter. Traditional remote phosphors can't deal with that concentrated heat, which is why white laser projectors use rotating phosphor wheels.

And that is my new knowledge learned today. Interesting.
 

horizonseeker

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my other thread on the "Weltool" m3 laser flashlight release got deleted (or at least no longer a valid thread link), guess admin thought it was a commercial?

Anyway, I pre-ordered a M3 laser flashlight, and once I get it in my hands, I'll report back with some basic (no real equipment, just in-hand feeling) feedback.

david
 

Enderman

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Here is a list of all the laser-phosphor flashlights/searchlights that I know of:
Weltool W3: (just google "weltool m3 laser flashlight" and go through a few pages of results)
Acebeam W10: http://www.acebeam.com/w10
Wlaser searchlights: http://www.whitelaser.net/category/white-laser/

They all seem to be using a laser-phosphor system as seen here: https://sldlaser.com/products/
This seems like the upcoming replacement of LEDs for throw purposes, with up to 1000cd/mm^2 which is more than 3x higher than the most intense LED we know of at the moment.
 
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