Find an Expert (continued)

Since posting questions on the forums, including instructables.com and scienceforums.com, I had received some feedback. Although these were useful suggestions, such as to try mirrors or reflectors, there still seemed to be an awful lot of doubt about whether the effect could be achieved and especially to what level of expertise. My need to talk the ideas through in person was growing ever more necessary, as it became difficult for people to understand my ideas and for me to understand their suggestions of e-mail or threads.

I had heard from a friend at university that John Bunyan, a technician at the university had a good understanding and knowledge of light, due to his work partly revolving around projection. John, who was doubtful that he would have an answer, was still willing to meet with me to discuss the ideas over. Although he did not have a answer as such for the proposed project, we did discuss other options that might be possible and be just as effective. We discussed the possibility of the beam appearing to contract and expand as people moved around the object, which I liked the idea of, but again I did not know how feasible it would be. The best option was to try to test the idea out, so I went away to conduct further test. John was also kind enough to lend me some lenses that he had to test how these would affect the beam of light.

NB. Even though I have discussed the idea through with several people I am still no closer to achieving a solution regarding the square column of light. I think it may be time to consider a cylindrical column of light.