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In article <1993Jan9.135624.9035@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, kolstad@cae.wisc.edu 
(Joel Kolstad) writes:
> In article <1993Jan9.122133.46254@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> wellison@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
> 
>>As with ANY laser light source, the power
>>is concentrated into a very tigh beam.
> 
> No, only a laser with some optics attached will have the power concentrated
> into a very tight beam.  Lasers with no optics whatsoever have a very
> diverging beam.

I'm not sure what you mean by "lasers with no optics".  If it doesn't have
mirrors, e.g. a diode laser, you're right.  

If you mean a conventional laser with flat mirrors but no exterior lenses,
typical beam divergence is down in the one or two milliradian range even for
small, inexpensive HeNe "experimentor's" lasers, such as you find in the Edmund
Scientific catalog.  If you want to consider this "very diverging", fine, but
it isn't a use of the term that many other people will understand. 

If by "no optics whatsoever" you mean not even mirrors, then in my book you
aren't talking about a laser.  (Experimental units have been built that rely
on single-pass gain, but mostly just to prove that it could be done.)

(The Edmund Scientific catalog is not a particularly good place to shop for
lasers, but it is something that you are likely able to find even if you
don't know much about lasers... which certainly seems to be the case.) 

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Consulting, San Diego CA
Internet:  jeh@cmkrnl.com, hanrahan@eisner.decus.org, or jeh@crash.cts.com
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