GBPPR Laser Dazzler |
Overview
One of the latest non-lethal directed-energy weapons is called a "laser dazzler." These dazzlers are used to disorient (or grab the attention of) people at fairly long ranges by temporarily causing "flash blindness." They are handy for signaling cars to stop at checkpoints (the car's interior lights up all spooky green), or even for distracting a target while you prepare your conventional weapon. The "flinch factor" in your target can even expose vulnerable areas not protected by body armor. Dazzlers will even work on some animals. You can use them to chase coons out of your neighborhood, and even to scare birds or raccoons out of your yard.
Laser dazzlers are said to be a true "multicultural and multilingual" non-lethal weapon as nothing says "Stop right there!" better than a laser in the eyes.
Military versions of the laser dazzler can sell for up to $1,000. These higher-quality versions consist of a high-power 200+ mW 532 nm (green) laser mounted in a nice machined aluminum case complete with MIL-SPEC adjustable optics and power controls.
The laser dazzler in this project consists of a cheap $10 green laser pointer (<5 mW) and the optics from a $5 LED flashlight. This dazzler does work, but isn't perfect - mostly due to the low laser output power and the less-than-ideal plastic optics. You can experiment with different optic systems for overall system improvement, but for inexpense and ease of construction, this setup works quite well.
The stock power switch and battery compartment for the laser pointer will be left intact. You may wish to add an external battery pack to increase the operational time of the laser pointer. It is also possible to add a "flasher" option to the laser dazzler. By flashing the beam at around 7 Hz to 14 Hz you can increase the effectiveness of the dazzler on a human target by making them dizzy as well as blind!
Laser dazzler systems like these have also been proven to be fairly effective against certain remote electro-optical systems (i.e. video cameras, digital cameras, night vision devices, etc.) provided they don't contain any front-end filtering or fancy automatic gain controls.

Pictures & Construction Notes

On top is a model A100G keychain flashlight from Garrity. These are often for sale near the checkout lines at various stores.
The Garrity A100G flashlights themselves are surprisingly bright and well constructed for their size and cost.
On the bottom is a cheap green laser pointer from eBay.

The first modification is to remove the end cap from the laser pointer. This should pull out with just a fairly strong tug.
Next, unscrew the lens assembly from the Garrity flashlight.

Slide the lens assembly from the flashlight over the end of the laser pointer and secure with some electrical tape or epoxy.
The lens assembly is an almost perfect fit. Slide it over the body of the laser pointer until it reaches the internal threads.
An optional 1/2-inch copper pipe hanger was added for mounting the dazzler.

That's it!
The 1/2-inch copper pipe hanger can be used to hold down the laser pointer's power button while you toggle the DC power via a remote battery pack and controls.
The pipe hanger also acts as an additional heatsink for the laser diode module, possibly extending its lifetime.

Output from the stock green laser pointer from about 10 feet away.

Output from the laser pointer with the "dazzle" lens installed from about 10 feet away.
The beam is more of a distorted rectangle at long distances due to use of the cheap optics, but the dazzler still works overall.
Rudimentary laser dazzler countermeasures consisted of using one of those "auto-darkening" welding helmets from Harbor Freight Tools.
Note that some cheap green laser pointers can pass a fair amount of energy in the infrared region. This could be potentially dangerous to a person's eyes if proper filtering is not in place.