But, let's face it, red laser pointers are just so old school now. Everyone has one. Your grandmother has one, and she doesn't even use PowerPoint. You need a new toy to make you the top geek at work and create new fun with your friends, furry and not.



Now, take a look at the new green laser pointers. And I'm not talking about that other kind of "green" where everyone is recycling their old newspapers. I'm talking about a cool new laser pointer that uses the far more powerful 532 nm wavelength; which, as any geek worth "his or her salt" knows, is tons better than the old 650 nm wavelength used by the red laser point. And, best of all, all that extra wavelength means it's really truly green.

So if you got your kicks by using your old red laser beam to highlight things on a projection screen across the room, imagine how good you'll feel using a green laser pointer to highlight things that used to be out of reach. Because a green laser beam is more powerful than a red one, it can highlight clouds, low-flying aircraft, and even star constellations. Best of all, you can see the green laser beam outside during full sunlight.

This equipment is so strong that it could actually get you arrested! Yes, arrested. Pointing a green laser beam at an aircraft could have the FBI on your case, wondering if you're planning possible terrorist operations from your backyard. Pretty neat, huh? Your old dinky red pointer can't do that.

And the green laser pointer doesn't produce just a wee little spot. You can see the whole beam as it travels to the stars. Think Luke and his light saber. See the possibilities?

To make a green laser pointer (and let's face it, only top geeks think about making their own laser pointers in the first place), it involves a whole new level of technology that makes the red laser pointer look so dull. The true green laser pointer requires a green direct injection laser diode, which is not available for public consumption. So, there's a whole complicated procedure involved here. (Caution: The next paragraph is for extreme techno-geek eyes only; everyone else can skip to the last paragraph.)

The green laser pointers, available on the market today, all use Diode Pumped Solid State Frequency Doubled technology, aka DPSSFD, which is good news for everyone. Basically, this means that an infrared laser diode pumps out 808 nm, which is then altered to 1,064 nm, which is then shot into a crystal that doubles the frequency to produce the green beam at 532 nm. (It should go without saying, because only card-carrying geeks are reading this, which with frequency smaller numbers mean stronger.)

So it is no wonder that green laser pointers are a must-have for the geek elite. While the green laser has been around a while, it's not so easy to find outside of technical settings (again, remember they can target airplanes). They're also not cheap. While you can pick up a red pointer for less than $10, a green one will set you back $50 or so, not out of reach, just not something you might purchase casually (or more to the point, something your grandmother won't purchase on the spur of the moment). Go on, you know you want one. Yeah, you know you really need one. What's stopping you?