I found out recently that lasers made a cameo in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans – as the mighty god rays of Zeus.
Gaze upon the majesty!
These are clearly argon ion gas lasers, which I can tell because 1) the beams are in the blue (488 nm) and green (514 nm) wavelengths that you can get from argon lasers and 2) this was one of the few lasers widely available in those days. They also got used in laser shows a lot because, again, very beautiful while being one of the only laser options. If you saw The Who’s laser show back in the day, they traveled with several of these argon lasers.
These lasers weren’t simple to work with, though. Apparently it took so long to get the lasers set up just right for one scene that Lawrence Olivier (who was playing Zeus) forgot his lines by the time they were finally ready for him to say them.
It is my opinion as a laser scientist that 488 nm blue is the prettiest laser wavelength.
Did you see the movie? Did you think the lasers were cool? I’m honestly too biased by the fact that they’re real lasers to be able to judge whether they’re really as awesome as I think they are.
