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The beam itself doesn't look rectangular. In fact it's really quite hard to tell what shape the cross section of the beam looks like from the side, though it will be fairly thick. The dot, however, will be very noticeably slot shaped. If you're really keen on beam shots a green laser would be...

The 'line' is due to the laser being a multimode laser. All 532s are single mode (well, ideally), which give their nice round spot. I'll not go into the differences, but generally speaking multimode diodes are capable of higher power output, and the high power 445s, 450s, 650s etc are all this...

Unfocusing the lens would give you more of a cone though, wouldn't it? Sure it's definitely cheap though.

You can get them off DTR's Laser Shop. https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/osram-plp520 DTR himself is a member on these forums, and you can shoot him a PM to inquire. You can get the diodes on their own, and press them into a module as well as build a driver yourself, or get it...

Alkali metals are reactive cos they lose a valence electron. I suppose a UV laser of some sort could knock it off. I doubt a laser, even 3 watts, would do much to it though. Most of it would just reflect off.

You can jump the contacts of the switch on the driver if you want to. Short the leads on the circuit board with a cleverly bent piece of wire or a solder blob. Be careful not to burn or melt or overheat anything, though, especially if you're not too handy with the solder like me. :p

What's the minimum heat difference it can run on? <- probably not phrased right, but still. The main usefulness of a Stirling engine is that it can work off a very small heat difference, as compared with TECs, right? In fact, IIRC TECs are some of the least efficient ways to generate...

Haha it's a crazy idea, reminds me of some guy who tried to make his laser stronger by shining it through a tube lined with Christmas lights.

Umm don't twist the diode, you might damage the leads and that wouldn't be good.

Well there're stickies in every subforum and I'm sure what you need to know is in all of them. There's one in the drivers subforum that tells you how drivers work and I'm sure that'd help.

I think most modules generally include drivers. But if you're thinking of one of DTR's which just include the diode pressed into the module (yes he does sell ones with drivers, see link), you will have to obtain or build your own driver. The host you have, what size module will the heatsink...

DO NOT CARBONATE MILK You'll get calcium carbonate. Basically do it if you love drinking chalk. Nice bubbly fizzy chalk. EDIT: Forgot. Plus it goes everywhere. Also I think it may curdle the milk. Carbonic acid and milk?

No idea, tho there was something about a blue laser being seen from the ISS. Not sure if that's quite the same as 135km through Earth atmosphere though.

Not just that the beam is worse, but also that blue will be less visible than green. I would say that even a two or three watt blue will not be as visible at the same distance.

hah thanks. Good luck with that PL450. If I ever build a 450nm laser I'd go for that diode (nice and single mode).

Well nothing against AAs. It just seems a PITA to me, that's all. I have an RC helicopter and the main reason I don't fly it often is because the controller uses something like 8 AAs (actually thinking of hooking that up to a 12v like you find in lamps).

Does it absolutely have to be a laser? Seems to me there are better ways to achieve this.

I wasn't really thinking about 9 volts. Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert (far from it) but I figure that if the majority of the laser community is using Li-ions those would be a better choice, wouldn't they?

I do have a question: why are you so set on using AAs? There are better options out there, that are more economical on space, too.

Most probably. Whether she(he?)'ll chase it is a different matter. If I were you I'd buy some battery holders and hook that up to my red one. A 5 minute job that will cost you a lot less and save you the trouble of buying a new laser. Not to mention that her chasing it is guaranteed. 405nm...