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Unread 20-03-2009, 06:42
purduephotog purduephotog is offline
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Re: No lasers of any kind?

Quote:
Originally Posted by martin417 View Post
Are you absolutely sure that the robot in question used a laser? Many people see a small red light and assume laser, even though no coherent light is emitted. For instance, Many people assume that optical mice use lasers. They do not, only a red LED focused by a lens. Most optical encoders do not use lasers, but LEDs. It is very likely that what you saw was an LED.
I will go back and review the photos I took of the bot. As of now (which is why I posted it) it resembled a laser diode sinked in a brass heat sink and mounted. The spot was nearly a perfect rectangle/square and it had that funky interference pattern speckle that I have come to associate with lasers.

But as you said... I never did ask
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