FUNDAMENTALS OF

LASER DISPLAY FOR

HOLIDAY DECOR
Adam Raugh, 2017

www.x-laser.com
 CONTENTS
Introduction 3
About the author 3
What is a LASER? 4
Lasers are distinct 4
Spatial coherence 4
Temporal coherence/monochromatic 4
High energy density 5
How do laser projectors work? 6
What are laser projectors used for? 8
What do lasers do well, and what are they not suited for? 10
How safe are lasers? 12
Laser classifications 12
Class 1 lasers 12
Class 2 lasers 12
Class 3R lasers 12
Class 3B lasers 12
Class 4 lasers 12
Laser hazards by class 13
Wait, what? The FDA? 14
Class 3B and Class 4 require variances 14
Variance rule 1: Use legal, compliant laser projectors 15
Variance rule 2: Prevent human access to the beams 15
Variance rule 3: Do not run unterminated outdoor shows 15
Variance rule 4: Have a laser light show variance 15
What kind of effects would I use a laser projector for in a holiday light display? 16
How big of a laser do I need? 17
How do you program and control a laser? 18
Control hardware and software 18
Laser control interpreters 19
Pangolin laser control software (Quickshow, Beyond) 20
Control schemes 21
Direct computer control 21
Triggering computer control via DMX 22
Triggering DAC directly with DMX/Art-Net 23
How do I get the laser to make me money? 24
What did we skip? 25
Conclusion 25

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 INTRODUCTION
This is an overview of the fundamentals of laser projectors including how they work,
what theyre capable of and how to use them to display laser graphics specifically for
holiday decor. At the end of reading this guide, you will have a solid understanding of
what laser projectors do well, what they dont do well, how to specify laser projectors
for holiday decor projects and how laser projectors can integrate with existing light show
control systems.

Please note that as this is a quick introduction of the fundamentals. Some of the topics
here have been simplified to their barest elements. Like all technical topics, there are
thousands of minor details, but the purpose here is to focus on the core elements of the
subject matter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Raugh got his start in the event production industry as a carpenter, welder and
rigger at CenterStage in Baltimore, Md. From there, he got into other aspects of event
production such as lighting and sound. Then, he spent a few years designing fire alarm
systems and fell into designing laser projectors in 2009. Like everyone else reading this,
Adam takes his holiday decorating seriously. For Christmas and New Years celebrations,
he has three lasers affixed to the roof, projecting a coordinated show that ties into a
custom-built LED strip controller that matches the set of LED strips to the laser show. For
Halloween, one laser on the roof complements the projection-mapped pumpkins, five fog
machines, several moving head lights, strobes and a home-built flame tower.

Adam is the President and owner of X-Laser. X-Laser was formed in 2007 when the
founder discovered it was extremely difficult to get into laser projectors. They were
large, expensive, complex to use and service, and their use carried large legal challenges.
Currently, X-Laser is the largest manufacturer of laser light show systems in the U.S.; over
half of all new laser variance holders over the past six years have been X-Laser users. This
is something were very proud of and we have made it our company mission to make
lasers accessible. Today, laser projectors are smaller, cheaper, safer, more rugged and
easier to use than ever, thanks to X-Laser and our partner companies in the industry.

X-Laser provides laser projectors for everyone from wedding DJs to Walt Disney
Imagineering, and were proud to offer the largest support network of any laser projector
manufacturer in the world.

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 WHAT IS A LASER?
We could easily fill pages and pages with this portion alone, but for our purposes,
were going to go with the most basic of overviews here.

LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. There are a
few different ways that LASER (frequently de-acronymed as laser) beams are generated,
but the most common method today is through the use of small semiconductors.

WHAT MAKES LASER SPECIAL?

Spatial coherence
Laser beams are comprised of coherent light, which makes them inherently very tight
and directional. A collimated laser beam of high power can literally be seen from miles
away. Some kinds of lasers are naturally lower in divergence (the basic measurement
of beam spread) than others. Gas or plasma lasers using elements like Helium Neon,
Argon or Copper Bromide naturally have extremely tight beams, whereas a Gallium
Arsenide semiconductor diode may produce laser light that appears more like a
flashlight. The property of spatial coherence is what makes a laser beam so distinctively
tight. By contrast, a light bulb is an example of light with little spatial coherence, as its
omnidirectional and light spreads in all directions from the source. The spatial coherence
of laser is so extreme that with the proper equipment, you can target retroreflectors on
the moon with a laser beam and determine its distance from earth by measuring the time
it takes for the laser beam to return to earth.

Temporal coherence/monochromatic
Lasers also inherently have extremely high temporal coherence, meaning they are
extremely monochromatic. To help understand this, the sun radiates light of every
wavelength, from low ultraviolet through high infrared, and we only see light and color in
the 380nm to 900nm range. Your typical incandescent light bulb also covers a wide range
of ~400nm to 850nm. LEDs typically emit +/-20nm. By contrast, lasers are typically 1nm
long in wavelength. Even lasers that appear to be multicolor (even gas lasers) are actually
multiple monochromatic lasers combined to appear to be a wider range of colors. This
property of temporal coherence is what makes laser light so highly saturated.

Laser 1nm
Light source

LED 20nm

Incandescent 450nm

0 520
Range of visible spectrum covered (in nm)
Infographic: Comparing temporal coherence of laser and other light sources. Note the visible spectrum is 380nm-900nm.

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 WHAT IS A LASER?
High energy density
Lasers are typically very low-power devices these days. Laser output power is
measured in watts, not lumens or candlepower. While a 25-watt incandescent bulb
is barely enough to light a closet and a 25-watt LED lighting fixture is a nice parcan,
a 25-watt laser projector is a stadium-level piece of gear. This is all related to spatial
coherence. Because that 25 watts of laser is focused down into a 3mm beam, its power
density is much, much greater than when its spread out into a larger beam. Its just like
taking a flashlight and focusing it to a tighter beam to make it seem brighter. Youre not
changing the power of the flashlight, rather, youre changing the power density of your
spot of light. Its this high energy density that makes laser projectors extremely bright for
their power level, as well as what makes them dangerous if used improperly.

20,000
Brightness in lumens (lm, approximate)

13,000 lm*
*604 luminous efficacy of 532nm laser x 25W x .89 luminosity function of 532nm
604 x 25 x .89 = ~13,000

2,000 lm

250 lm
0
25W incandescent 25W LED 25W laser (532nm green)
Light source

Infographic: Comparing approximate lumen outputs of 25W fixtures.

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 WHAT IS A LASER?
HOW DO LASER PROJECTORS WORK?
Color mixing
At their core, all laser light show projectors (except starburst projectors) are built in
the same way and work in the
same fashion. Between one
and six laser beams, most
commonly three (red, green
and blue) are combined using
a series of very specialized
dichroic mirror filters. The
laser beam is directed onto
two mirrors mounted on very
precise, high-speed motors
called galvanometers. These
two mirrors move based on
the input from the controller,
and sweep the beam through
a series of points to form an
image. The human eye and our
brain can only interpret visual
information so quickly, so if the
beam moves fast enough, Photo: Red, green and blue beams combine to form a white beam,
which bounces off two scanner mirrors.
it appears to be a single image
to us and our eyes.

Persistence of vision
For example, if you take a laser pointer and point it at the wall, you just see a dot. But
if you move that pointer side to side slowly, you will see a dot moving side to side. Begin
to increase the rate at which you move the pointer side to side, and as you move it faster
and faster, youll begin to see the dot turn into a short line, and then a longer line. This is
commonly referred to as persistence of vision.

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 WHAT IS A LASER?
Scanner mirrors
So to project a square, the two scanner mirrors will move the laser beam through a
series of five points. You can see a graphical demonstration of this below:

Point 1 (origin) Point 2 (top left) Point 3 (top right) Point 4 (bottom right) Point 5 (bottom left)

1) The origin point (Point 1), bottom left, is where the image begins.
2) Point 2, top left. To get to this point, only the Y-axis mirror moves.
3) Point 3, top right. To get to this point, the X-axis mirror moves while the Y-axis
mirror stays in one place.
4) Point 4, bottom right. To get to this point, the X-axis mirror remains stationary
while the Y-axis mirror sweeps down.
5) Point 5, bottom left. This time, only the X-axis mirror moved to complete the
square. Typically this is where the pattern repeats.

All of this happens quickly enough that to the human eye, it appears to just be
a square, but in reality its a single beam being swept through a few points. Laser
projectors are not limited to straight lines; a circle is easily made by moving both the X
and Y mirrors at the same time in a sine wave pattern, with a slight phase offset.

Color control is done through some electronic tricks too. With an incandescent light
source, you filter the light to remove the wavelengths you dont want, like putting on a
yellow filter to get yellow light, for example. With LED, you add different wavelength
ranges together in different amounts to make certain colors, combining red, green and
amber in different amounts to get yellow. Laser projectors function in exactly the same
way, but generally with fewer available wavelengths. To get yellow in a laser projector,
you turn on red and green, and to get orange you would turn the green down. You can
do this color mixing manually, or let the software figure it out for you. To get blank spaces
in laser lines, all the laser diodes have to do is turn off.

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