Lately I have been daydreaming a lot in my laser communication course. Surfing around Google after class, I managed to find an article on sending serial port data over a laser link. The article is rather old (1997), but was published in a prominent Australian magazine. This is way back when a good, red laser pointer was only $70.

All said, this is an interesting read. It would be nice to see this applied to more practical situations. Many computers do not even have serial ports anymore. We have been discussing the feasibility of using a laser to send video signals in the DIY Live Forums. The idea is great because running cable your projector is often a major problem in home theaters. Unfortunately, I have no home theater and my only only monitor is an old, huge CRT. I will have to find another excuse to play with lasers.

On a side note, it is theoretically possible to send terabits of data per second over one channel, because the optical frequency of a laser is extremely high (~460 terahertz for a red laser). This bandwidth is limited to mere gigabits by the response time of current optical detectors and circuitry, though.

The Do It Yourself Laser Light Show has more to do with optics than electronics. Taping a mirror to your sub-woofer and pointing a laser at it is fairly ingenious. At least I never considered it, and I am nuts about lasers.

Most coverage of this project is useless. However, Kenwardtown does an amazing job explaining the mod with detailed pictures. “I recommend you don’t tape anything to the cone itself, because you can damage the cone.”