Can we produce ultraviolet rays at home?

What is a blacklight and how do you make one? This is the topic of a recent MacGyver episode in which he quickly creates an improvised blacklight to find hidden messages on a wall. You can watch the scene here—and a disclaimer, I am currently the Technical Consultant for the show. read more

Gas lasers, laser diodes and solid-state lasers can be manufactured to emit ultraviolet light, and lasers are available which cover the entire UV range. The nitrogen gas laser uses electronic excitation of nitrogen molecules to emit a beam that is mostly UV. read more

Ultraviolet (UV) light falls in the range of the EM spectrum between visible light and X-rays. It has frequencies of about 8 × 10 14 to 3 × 10 16 cycles per second, or hertz (Hz), and wavelengths of about 380 nanometers (1.5 × 10 −5 inches) to about 10 nm (4 × 10 −7 inches). read more

Lasers have been used to indirectly generate non-coherent extreme UV (EUV) light at 13.5 nm for extreme ultraviolet lithography. The EUV light is not emitted by the laser, but rather by electron transitions in an extremely hot tin or xenon plasma, which is excited by an excimer laser. read more