What is the difference between green and red lasers?
This most obvious difference between the green and red lasers is the wavelength of the beam. Green lasers have a wavelength between 560nm and 490nm, with 532nm being the wavelength used for almost all lasers. Some green lasers will have a wavelength of 526.5 nm and green lasers can be made with other wavelengths such as 515 nm, 523.5 nm, and 543 nm. The wavelength of red lasers ranges from 700 nm to 630 nm, with the most common wavelengths being 635 nm, 655 nm, and 671 nm.
The process used to create the laser beam on green lasers is very different from the process on red lasers. Red lasers are the simplest and the laser module (the section that produces the beam) is just a diode and a lens. Green lasers, on the other hand, are much more complex and use a diode and a series of crystals and lenses in a process called frequency doubling to produce a green beam.
In a red laser, the laser diode emits red light. There are no commonly available diodes that emit green light, so green lasers use a diode that emits 808nm light. The 808nm is then converted to 1064nm by a crystal. The 1064nm light is switched again, this time to 532nm.
The human eye is much more sensitive to green light than red light with sensitivity estimates ranging from 10 times more sensitive to 50 times more sensitive. The human eye’s increased sensitivity to green means that green lasers are much brighter than red lasers and more suitable than red lasers for many applications such as pointing, aligning, and astronomy. Green is typically the color of choice for general-purpose lasers, while red is typically only used for research, laser shows, and specific industrial applications.
Color lasers, often called RGB lasers, are made with a blue laser, a red laser, and a green laser. Due to the different brightness of red lasers to green lasers and even blue lasers, different power ratios are needed for red, blue and green to produce balanced white light. With 635nm red light, the common power ratio for the three different colors is 3 red to 2 blue and 1 green.
Green and red laser light have different physical properties that not only affect their application, but also affect the laser safety glasses that are used. Laser safety glasses that protect against green lasers are different from laser safety glasses that protect against red lasers. It is critical to the safety of your eyes to ensure that the laser safety glasses you use match the color of the laser you are using.
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