anyone have any proxies that were made today.. our school blocks them on a daily basis.
Green laser pointers usually employ an Nd:YAG microchip laser which puts out 1064 nm light (IR) and then frequency doubles to get green (532 nm). If the laser is made correctly, there is an IR blocking filter at the output side of the frequency doubler so only 532 nm light comes out. Unfortunately, many of the green laser pointers made in China are not assembled properly and 1064 nm light can be emitted. This is bad because the IR light can cause eye damage - since you can't see this light, you don't know your eye is being damaged until after the damage occurs. BTW, since the 1064 nm light is from a laser it follows the direction for the 532 nm light - it is not uniformly spread out. Again, this poses an eye safety problem. Your 100 mW green laser is enought o worry about from an eye safety standpoint all by itself. You should wear the appropriate safety goggles if you work with this laser. It is particularly problematic since your eye has its peak response in the green, and is even more vulnerable to damage. The laser is NOT a laser pointer - don't kid yourself. If there is 1064 nm light leaking from it, you can assume that there is at least 100 mW or more until you actually measure it. If you want to take precautions, be sure your laser safety goggles block both 532 and 1064 nm.
It's best to use copper fittings with copper pipes.
