How Much Light Does a 5 W Laser Really Produce?
The somewhat surprising answer is: About the same as a 100 W incandescent or 40 W xenon HID lamp. But, a 5 W mixed gas ion laser requires several kW from a 240/208 V three-phase line and is water-cooled! Of course, what you do get for all that global warming is a nice collimated beam which would be difficult or impossible from a conventional light source. And, with single line optics, the beam is also monochromatic and coherent. So, it may all be worth it! For simplicity, let’s assume that we are comparing a xenon HID lamp and a mixed-gas (argon/krypton) white light ion laser. Some issues: • What is the equivalent brightness of the spectra of a xenon lamp versus a white light laser. We can probably assume it is similar at least as a first approximation. • How does a watt of light translate to lumens? Another way of looking at it (no pun….) would be to determine the efficiency of your source in converting electrical watts to light watts. • If the source is monochromatic (like a laser)
