Structured-light projector for bicyclists has green diode laser
Recognizing that the safety of bicyclists is dependent on their ability to be seen by other motorists, Emily Brooke, founder and CEO of BLAZE (London, England), developed the BLAZE Laserlight bike light that projects a bright-green image of a bicycle 6 m ahead on the pavement.
The laser projection system within BLAZE not only provides a bright-white LED for up to 300 lumens of general illumination for the cyclist, but also includes a 520-nm-wavelength green laser diode with a 30 mW power output that projects the image while consuming 2900 mA of electrical power from its battery.
To project this structured-light image that far while maintaining high intensity, the BLAZE Laserlight takes advantage of an eye-safe, low-divergence, high-brightness green laser and diffractive optics. Both the LED and laser can be operated in continuous or flashing mode, with the battery providing two hours of operation when both the laser and the LED headlight are at maximum continuous power, and up to 29 hours of operation when the LED is at 100 lumens and the laser is off. The unit is manufactured by the same company that makes Apple products and is commercially available for less than $180. Reference: https://blaze.cc/laserlight.
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.