Can I turn a laserbeam in a Bigger and wider beam??

Hi, I'm working on a new project and it involves a detection using a Laser... Because the beam is to thin to detect an object i need to increase the thickness of the beam... Is this possible using some sort of lenses? or is there an other way of doing this? Thanks for helping! Greetz Kenny

Comments

[lemonie]

Bounce it off mirrors like you see in films? L

[zupperzipper]

No it's just needs to dedect a small magnet passing the laser

[lemonie]

Magnet? Is there a magnetic aspect to the mechanism? L

[zupperzipper]

I'll post the project as soon as it's working :)

[frollard]

ooh ooh...tight diffraction grating to make a series of dots, each with its own sensor...

[lemonie]

It's Sunday evening, and you're giving me something to think about... yea, I like the idea. L

[frollard]

I second this one...depending on the size of area needing coverage, you might need a very precise mirror - tinned glass mirrors tend to split the beam with the refraction and internal reflection of the beam going different ways.

[lemonie]

I think it's area-coverage or something-like that's needed, aligning them would take a bit of work but I don't see it as being much harder than the idea pictured above ? L

[seandogue]

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[seandogue]

(removed by author or community request)

[orksecurity]

The other solution to just use mirrors to bounce the beam back and forth a few times before it hits the detector, creating a grid wide enough to detect the object. If that works for you, it should be easier to work with than widening and then narrowing the beam -- the wider beam will become dimmer if something passes through part of it, the bounced beam will go out completely if something passes through any part of it.

[jtobako]

If the initial beam won't get detected, the wider one won't either. You detect the power level of the beam, so just widening the beam won't help, you need a stronger laser source.

[steveastrouk]

Well you COULD use a graded index lens (GRIN) lens, but, a beam expander made from a pair of lenses is easiest. Look for "beam expander" on Google.