Development of a portable laser sheet

A portable laser sheet illumination source for flow visualization experiments has been developed utilizing fiber optic cable and standard optical bench components. This technique improves the convenience and safety aspects of using laser light by containing the concentrated laser energy inside a flexible and shielded fiber cable. Transmission efficiencies up to seventy-five percent have been obtained with a twenty meter long fiber cable and careful alignment of optical components. The current optical configuration can transmit a two-watt Argon-ion laser beam and produce a sheet one-half by one meter in size and approximately two to three millimeters in thickness.