a larger penetration depth than a common flashlight an alternative preferred embodiment of the laser flashlight of the instant invention is depicted in fig4 as shown therein laser flashlight 10 u2032 includes a battery pack 30 u2032 a power supply 14 a beam expander 20 an optical system 50 u2032 including an optical fiber assembly 62 and a diode package 16 u2032 the primary difference between laser flashlight 10 u2032 and laser flashlight 10 is that laser flashlight 10 u2032 utilizes a diode laser 64 which is directly coupled to beam expander 20 via optical fiber assembly 62 to generate laser beams rather than the diode pumped solid state laser of the fig1 embodiment the optical fiber assembly 62 includes an optic fiber 66 and a fiber optic connector 68 diode lasers 64 of this nature are becoming increasingly available in higher and higher power ratings for various wavelengths including the green range since the output of a diode laser 64 can be converted to other wavelengths via many of the non linear resonators described below the laser flashlight 10 u2032 could optionally be equipped with a suitable resonator depending on the diode laser 64 selected however this laser flashlight configuration is preferred due to its simplicity and its power weight and size minimization capabilities diode lasers 64 of comparable power and frequency ratings to those discussed above are preferred for use with this embodiment finally since there is no need to cool optical fiber 66 i e there is preferably no.