right here I have a camera that's been modified so that it shoots in infrared
now the only thing that's different about it is that it's IR blocking
filter was replaced with one that only lets IR light through. now for such a
simple modification the effect is actually really crazy. this is what I
look like on an IR camera my skin is pastier than normal the
patterns of my shirt disappeared and my eyes are black and looks slightly
possessed. now what else can I do with the camera? well for one anything with an
IR transmitter in it like this TV remote here it's gonna look really bright on
the camera even though it's actually invisible to our eyes. infrared light can
shoot through a lot of materials that we normally consider opaque. for example
here I have a glass of coke. now to our eyes it looks dark because it doesn't
let much visible light through but on the IR camera you can see right through
it and that's because it's basically transparent to shortwave IR. pretty cool
right? now you guys know how it goes on this channel. I'm not just gonna sit
around and give you fluff about infrared photography the only way I can have fun
with this thing is if I build some giant IR lasers. now in case you didn't know
building giant lasers isn't exactly cheap but thankfully I have a sponsor
willing to support this project so it can reach its maximum potential. today's
video is sponsored by Vikings war of clans Vikings war of clans was inspired
by the famous strategy and RPG games of the 90s like command & Conquer and
Starcraft that we all loved and played with a devotion that today's youngsters
just won't ever understand. what makes Vikings world so addictive is that more
than 20 million online players are constantly changing the way the game
evolves by never-ending fighting over resources forging new alliances and
competing in live events. I downloaded the game and can definitely see why it's
so addictive it's actually a lot of fun and definitely worth checking out. help
support my channel by downloading Vikings for free only from my links in
the description box below and get the special bonus of 200 gold coins and a
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to look me up and join my Vikings clan under my nickname styropyro1 again I'd
like to give a big THANK YOU to Vikings war of clans for sponsoring this video
and yeah without further ado let's build some giant IR lasers a
surprisingly simple way to make a powerful IR laser is actually by just
tearing down a green laser pointer. now the reason being is that most green
laser pointers don't actually have a green laser diode inside. instead it
uses an infrared laser that pumps a set of crystals to make green light. now
lucky for us this process is not very efficient so there has to be a powerful
IR laser inside for this to work. now before I start tearing this thing apart
I should point out that the experiments that were done in this video were done
completely for educational purposes and in fact if you were to try any of this
stuff at home you'd almost certainly get killed or at least permanently maimed so
yeah please don't try this at home. green laser pointers have a lot of
fragile components inside so it's important that they're handled with care
now actually disassembling this thing turned out to be really difficult as
everything was either glued or permanently pressed into place
honestly it's hard not to use swear words to describe the process of
taking it apart. anyways at the expense of the laser
pointer casing I was able to remove the laser module. now the orthovanadate and
KTP crystals used to generate green light sit right on top of that IR laser
diode so removing these exposes the raw IR output. on my normal camera this
output shows up as a very dim pink and now if I was dumb enough to look at it
with my own eyes I'd actually see a faint red glow but with the IR camera
it's obvious that it's actually very powerful it lights up my entire desk
with IR light but in order to do anything fun with it I need to focus the
output with the lens. instead of trying to painstakingly mount a tiny lens over
the laser diode at just the right distance I found it easier to just
remove the laser diode and stick in a module with an adjustable threaded lens
mount. the finished product is actually really scary not only is it invisible
but it can still blind in a fraction of a second and that's why I wear laser
goggles when I'm working with it. now to those of my viewers out there who
are interested in experimenting around with lasers, a powerful IR laser should
not be your first project. the focused laser looks really cool on the IR camera
and plus with the adjustable lens mount I can focus the beam to a tiny spot so
it can burn things. a match lights instantly when it's placed inside the
focal point of the beam and now I can also cut through thin dark plastic with
ease. alright I gotta do it. I gotta stick my hand in the beam to see what
happens because what could possibly go wrong? oh wow I don't feel a thing.
now I figured it wouldn't be bad but I was hoping it would hurt at least just a
little bit. even at the focal point I don't feel the tiniest
a bit of warmth. I guess my flesh is super transparent to the shortwave IR
wavelength now notice that when the beam is going through my hand it actually
lights up all of my veins so they're clearly visible. that is so amazing!
alright now I'm bored. now it's not like this thing isn't powerful I mean it
definitely is, but I mean come on it doesn't even reach the class four danger rating I
feel like I need something that's at least a hundred times stronger. and now
unfortunately a giant portable IR Death Ray isn't just something I can go and
buy online so I guess this means I have to build one myself. now one of the fun
parts about designing a laser like this is that I'm completely at the mercy of what
Parts I could find cheaply on eBay. now lucky for me high-tech startups are
constantly failing and militaries around the world are always getting rid of old
laser hardware. that means there's always gonna be a constant supply of
weapons-grade laser parts in the surplus market. I had my heart set on using a
monster fiber coupled IR laser array on the build but buying one of these things
new costs more than a brand-new car but with a little bit of luck I was able to
score this used but working 25 watt unit. for the housing I just started with this
heat sink and just kind of went at it with a hacksaw, drill, and dremel. and like most
things in my life I didn't actually plan anything out
before diving right in and just started cutting things and bolting stuff into
place until it seemed somewhat acceptable. I ended up using a pipe
for the handle and then wired in a switch to act as a trigger. before
bolting down the laser array I added some arctic silver to increase heat
transfer from the laser. now I really should have used indium foil for this
but I won't be running this thing for very long so there shouldn't be an issue.
coming up with an efficient driver that can feed the laser a whopping 40 amps at
just 2 volts turned out to be quite the challenge but then I saw a video by
Marko reps of him building the exact driver that I needed. next power supply
is a constant current source for the laser module I got it from someone who
has a few other powerful laser sources and he wants me to design and assemble
two universal a constant current drivers here's a naive approach. it's funny
because my naive approach would've been a giant pile of linear regulators so I'm
really happy that I saw his video and yeah I ended up building a driver based
on his design it worked flawlessly so a big thank you to him. in fact you should
all go check out his channel he makes tons of cool videos on things like
robotics and lasers I'll be sure to put a link in the description of this video
on the optics side of things I needed something to tame the rapidly
diverging beam from the fiber. I ended up using some nice fused silicon lenses from
Esco Optics. now these things are rated to handle the high power laser beam
without exploding. I stuck the lenses in an adjustable telescope mount that I
made from PVC pipe. and here is the terrifying finished product I added a
thermometer here so I can keep an eye on the laser diodes temp. I also added some
indicator LEDs one that lights up when the laser is armed and the other one
when the laser is firing and anyway enough with this technical junk let's test
this thing out! can you see me alright? oh wait let me turn on my giant laser. now I
built the mask that I'm wearing by fitting laser goggles into a welding
helmet. I just wanted to make sure there is no chance of any stray light making it
into my goggles. the funny thing is that I can't see this light at all it's
completely invisible to me. the only reason I know it's on is from this
indicator light I stuck on it but that being said I'm sure it looks like I'm
holding a bolt of lightning on the IR camera. that's pretty crazy to me. on my
normal camera the beam looks really weak but obviously this isn't actually the
case now what else can I do with this giant laser? how about triggering a
100,000 volts spark gap? here I have a very high voltage DC power supply. when
the electrodes are close enough the spark easily jumps the gap
but when they're separated enough the electric field is too weak for total
breakdown instead just a small amount of current finds its way through the
cardboard. now if I use the laser to light the matches in between the
electrodes the spark can jump the gap again
this works because the flame generates conductive ions that makes the perceived
gap between the electrode smaller. I'm sure there's also an avalanche
effect from the extreme field grabbing charged particles and smashing them into
neutral molecules in the air to make even more ions.
here's another cool trick. the plastic tubes here I filled with strontium
aluminate glow powder. when I light the pile of flash powder below with the laser
it energizes the aluminate so it glows. now when I shine the IR laser at the
powder and glows much brighter. in fact I can actually see the laser spot through
the goggles this way. this is actually how those IR visualizer cards work. now
if it weren't for the extreme blinding hazard this thing would also function as
basically the world's best night-vision flashlight. this thing has the potential
to light up things for miles! but that won't exactly be safe or legal so I
guess I'm just gonna have to use this thing for blowing up stuff at home. well
that's about all the useful things this laser can do now let's see what this
thing can destroy
all right so that's about it for this video now I apologize for the lack of
videos recently. it's just been so cold here it's basically impossible to heat this
uninsulated shop above freezing. now luckily this won't be an issue much
longer cause I'm about ready to move into a new shop that actually has
insulation and even better it has a much bigger electrical connection so stay
tuned for that and yeah until the next time stay safe and happy lasing!