Is there a 2 way source light reflector?

[DARK0717]

what i mean is that, is there such a geometry of glass that would allow light to come from 2 directions but come out in the exact same direction and location?

Example, light source a and b go through the input 1 and 2 of the reflector, they both come out from output 3.

or more like two wires that when the ends of the two wires are twisted together will result in both of the wires stack its current to where its twisted and to that direction.

Anything even if its not glass is fine with me*

 

If ur gonna ask what kind of light would I want to reflect, its a laser, or any very thin light

Edited March 23, 2019 by DARK0717

[swansont]

Yes, to a degree. A beamsplitter would do this, if set up to operate in reverse. Depending on the conditions, you would not necessarily get all of the light combined.

[DARK0717]

9 hours ago, swansont said:

Yes, to a degree. A beamsplitter would do this, if set up to operate in reverse. Depending on the conditions, you would not necessarily get all of the light combined.

oh, thank you.

but would it be possible for the laser to loop, and not go back to its source?l

like my furst example but instead, the laser from output 3 would go to input 2 then back out of output 3 then cycle repeats

Edited March 24, 2019 by DARK0717

[John Cuthber]

If the different light sources are different colours then it's a fairly standard bit of equipment

https://www.edmundoptics.com/f/Dichroic-Laser-Beam-Combiners-8f67c2b5/14451/

[swansont]

8 hours ago, DARK0717 said:

oh, thank you.

but would it be possible for the laser to loop, and not go back to its source?l

like my furst example but instead, the laser from output 3 would go to input 2 then back out of output 3 then cycle repeats

What do you mean by “loop and not go back to its source”?

Combining inputs 1 and 2 into a separate output is not a loop, and does not go back to the source.

[DARK0717]

12 minutes ago, swansont said:

What do you mean by “loop and not go back to its source”?

Combining inputs 1 and 2 into a separate output is not a loop, and does not go back to the source.

my idea is for the laser to just go around and around in a loop without going back to the diode, which means the laser wont escape at all, it will just keep stacking up in a loop inside maybe a donut shaped splitter.

[Raider5678]

16 minutes ago, swansont said:

What do you mean by “loop and not go back to its source”?

Combining inputs 1 and 2 into a separate output is not a loop, and does not go back to the source.

He means he wants the light to go from through a system similar to this:

 

[swansont]

2 hours ago, DARK0717 said:

my idea is for the laser to just go around and around in a loop without going back to the diode, which means the laser wont escape at all, it will just keep stacking up in a loop inside maybe a donut shaped splitter.

An optical buildup cavity. Often not a loop, but you can do it that way. A folded  cavity.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-folded-optical-cavity_fig2_50316125

[DARK0717]

3 hours ago, Raider5678 said:

He means he wants the light to go from through a system similar to this:

 

Yes, quite like that THANK YOU.

1 hour ago, swansont said:

An optical buildup cavity. Often not a loop, but you can do it that way. A folded  cavity.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-folded-optical-cavity_fig2_50316125

yea, Im looking for a loop, maybe a one way mirror on one of the mirrors in a folded cavity? but then maybe in the end, it will just end up like the diode itself by which when the one way mirror cant hold too much light, it will just go through it then back into the diode.

Edited March 24, 2019 by DARK0717

[Raider5678]

8 hours ago, DARK0717 said:

yea, Im looking for a loop, maybe a one way mirror on one of the mirrors in a folded cavity? but then maybe in the end, it will just end up like the diode itself by which when the one way mirror cant hold too much light, it will just go through it then back into the diode.

The issue with what you're thinking of is that the laser isn't perfectly straight. As a result, it will slowly expand. Except, this is light, and it moves at 300 million meters per second. So "slowly" turns into virtually instantly. So the loop your thinking of, won't "hold" the light after you turn the laser off. It'll simply expand too wide. Also, each time it hits the mirrors, the light will also be absorbed just a little bit. Not enough for you to notice when holding a laser to a mirror, but enough that any form of a loop would almost instantly disappear to the human eye.

Then there's also the fact that the protons will occasionally collide when they go to the mirrors which are adjusting their trajectory (when you think about it, it's pretty obvious some protons will have to cross paths, increasing the likely hood they'll collide.) which will then in turn further degrade the purity of the laser.

[DARK0717]

I see, i was thinking of maybe amplifiying a laser more by putting it into a loop then releasing it, i guess it wont be feasible. Perhaps fiber optic cables might work?

Edited March 25, 2019 by DARK0717

[swansont]

9 hours ago, Raider5678 said:

The issue with what you're thinking of is that the laser isn't perfectly straight. As a result, it will slowly expand.

That's why at least one mirror of an optical cavity is typically concave. 

9 hours ago, Raider5678 said:

Except, this is light, and it moves at 300 million meters per second. So "slowly" turns into virtually instantly. So the loop your thinking of, won't "hold" the light after you turn the laser off. It'll simply expand too wide. Also, each time it hits the mirrors, the light will also be absorbed just a little bit. Not enough for you to notice when holding a laser to a mirror, but enough that any form of a loop would almost instantly disappear to the human eye.

This will not prevent there being much more light in the cavity than in the laser beam, if the reflectivity of the mirrors is high enough.

9 hours ago, Raider5678 said:

Then there's also the fact that the protons will occasionally collide when they go to the mirrors which are adjusting their trajectory (when you think about it, it's pretty obvious some protons will have to cross paths, increasing the likely hood they'll collide.) which will then in turn further degrade the purity of the laser.

Protons?

Photons crossing paths is not an issue here. They don't "collide"

7 hours ago, DARK0717 said:

I see, i was thinking of maybe amplifiying a laser more by putting it into a loop then releasing it, i guess it wont be feasible. Perhaps fiber optic cables might work?

The concept you describe is actually done in some optical systems, though perhaps not how you have envisioned it. It's called a power build-up cavity.

In a laser, the gain medium is inside a cavity. It absorbs and amplifies. But 

"it is often preferable to separate the absorber from the laser, in order to extend the experimental flexibility and to characterize better working parameters."

See "Signal Enhancement and Optical Field Buildup Inside Cavity"

https://jila.colorado.edu/yelabs/sites/default/files/uploads/4101-Bederson-001_corrections.pdf