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Well, since I am bored, and currently begging for something to do, I am starting this thread.
This will double as a thread for me to bump with my research updates, new projects, etc. It will also be a place for anyone to ask questions on any topic gas related. No question is dumb or silly If it requires length to explain, I may even make a video to explain it quicker.
Soooo.. My current projects include:
TEA Cu vapor laser.
Information collecting on HeNeAr/609.7nm laser emission
Writing a paper on the above topic
Repairing my 488nm PSU so I can walk the tunable's mirrors...oops
Some details about the above topics:
TEA Cu vapor laser!
What is this?! Witchcraft?! Well, you could say that. I did a write-up on the details of this project on my facebook, I will add it to my website sometime tonight if I get around to it.
First and foremost, do NOT try this at home. Doing so improperly could result in the injury to eyes, respiratory functions, and your skin. Again, do NOT try this experiment.
Now some background.
The copper vapor laser is a fairly old incarnation of the metal-vapor lasers. In this case, in it's pure form you will fine a discharge tube with some amount of copper inside. This copper is vaporized, and lased by pulses of very high power. This pure copper has a vapor temp of around 1500C.
To make up for this high temp, developments have been made to lower it. The most famous, and common, is by using copper bromide, CuBr for short. These have vapor temps of around 500C. However, in this design you need a second pulse of electricity, further complicating things. This is necessary to disassociate the halide (bromide in this case) from the copper. Your first pulse does this. Once this is done, and you have pure copper in vapor form. A second pulse is used to send this vapor through atomic transition. Sending the electrons to their high laser state, and falling to metastable, before falling back to ground (stable). The fall from excited to metastable, results in the release of photons. Your stable laser lines include 510nm, and 578nm (rounded).
This operation is self terminating however, so in order to have what looks like continuous output, you need to rapidly pulse the laser. This results in "quasi continuous wave" functionality. In English, this is when a laser is pulsed so frequently (50-100+ reps a second) that the operation appears to be continuous wave.
In the following experiment, I will be using the above fundamentals, with a different laser design.
The N2, or TEA laser, will be the backbone of this design.
This is a laser that uses pulsed electrical discharge to send the nitrogen in the air, through transition, and results in high but short (0.5-40ns) pulses. The design, in essence, is similar to a copper vapor. It has a pulsed, self terminating output.
The goal is simple. I am to take a solid metallic copper acetylacetonate with a vapor temperature of 40C, and then send the vapors through the spark gap of the laser. Resulting in a "Cu TEA laser".
The problems I will face may be difficult to overcome. They include heating the compound to vapor temp, acidic vapors, and sealing the unit in a "safe" way preventing the contamination of the surrounding environment.
I will also need to accomplish the pulses power as well. As this is not pure copper, so I will need to remove the copper from it's acetyacetonate. This will be a hurdle in and of itself.
This experiment will be equal parts fun, to dangerous. With a large heap of learning curve, and hands-on experience. I hope to take the knowledge from the following experimentation, and use them to advance on this design to a more "permanent", and less dangerous one. The goal is to not have glass supplies, and tubing and open laser parts everywhere.
What a mouthful!!!
The next, and shorter topic to explain, is the HeNeAr/609.07nm laser.
As some of you know, I have an orange tube doing 609.07nm. I rejoice now knowing that a second has been found! This is excellent! We now have further proof that this is related to REO. I am currently speaking to an owner of a third LTOR-0150 to see if it is also doing this. Will update if anything comes of it.
To explain this, requires a brief look back into REO's history. first of all, they never built argon lasers. So for them to be totally oblivious to the effects of their decisions, is very likely. Considering that at the time, argon lasers were still new. Even now, with forums containing a wealth of information, there are plenty that know little about them.
REO has a history of making Ne II indicator lamps using what's known as a "Penning mixture". This is a mixture that contains a gas you want to ionize, as well as a second gas in trace amounts to lower the temperature of the intended gas' ionization temp. In this case, they used 0.5% argon mixed in with the neon.
Had they known that this would result in orange light, I'm sure it wouldn't matter to them. Neon has an orange transmission anyway, so the additional argon would make no discernible difference.
The hypothesis now begins. We believe (Dr. Sam and I) that REO had begun using this neon with their HeNes not thinking anything of it. Why have two separate supplies of neon, when you could just keep one? It's just a trace amount of argon, no harm, right?
Wrong. Within a Penning mixture, you also have a chance of something called "Penning ionization" to occur. This is the name of a phenomena that occurs when you add gas B to gas A to lower the ionization temp of gas A, and you actually ionize both A and B. Oh no! Now that argon that we added, is actually lasing as well! You have accidentally created a HeNeAr laser
Now since some orange tubes have multiline optics allowing anything from as far away as 594 to resonate in a 612 tube, you are now covering the 609.07nm line from the argon. This is the only time you will see this line of course.
It is likely possible to get this line to lase in other REO tubes by using orange mirrors on both sides of the tube, though I will need to confirm this on my own.
So that pretty much wraps up the two main topics in my life
The rest is self explanatory
Any questions?! Either on the above information, or anything that's been twirling in your noggin lately
This will double as a thread for me to bump with my research updates, new projects, etc. It will also be a place for anyone to ask questions on any topic gas related. No question is dumb or silly If it requires length to explain, I may even make a video to explain it quicker.
Soooo.. My current projects include:
TEA Cu vapor laser.
Information collecting on HeNeAr/609.7nm laser emission
Writing a paper on the above topic
Repairing my 488nm PSU so I can walk the tunable's mirrors...oops
Some details about the above topics:
TEA Cu vapor laser!
What is this?! Witchcraft?! Well, you could say that. I did a write-up on the details of this project on my facebook, I will add it to my website sometime tonight if I get around to it.
First and foremost, do NOT try this at home. Doing so improperly could result in the injury to eyes, respiratory functions, and your skin. Again, do NOT try this experiment.
Now some background.
The copper vapor laser is a fairly old incarnation of the metal-vapor lasers. In this case, in it's pure form you will fine a discharge tube with some amount of copper inside. This copper is vaporized, and lased by pulses of very high power. This pure copper has a vapor temp of around 1500C.
To make up for this high temp, developments have been made to lower it. The most famous, and common, is by using copper bromide, CuBr for short. These have vapor temps of around 500C. However, in this design you need a second pulse of electricity, further complicating things. This is necessary to disassociate the halide (bromide in this case) from the copper. Your first pulse does this. Once this is done, and you have pure copper in vapor form. A second pulse is used to send this vapor through atomic transition. Sending the electrons to their high laser state, and falling to metastable, before falling back to ground (stable). The fall from excited to metastable, results in the release of photons. Your stable laser lines include 510nm, and 578nm (rounded).
This operation is self terminating however, so in order to have what looks like continuous output, you need to rapidly pulse the laser. This results in "quasi continuous wave" functionality. In English, this is when a laser is pulsed so frequently (50-100+ reps a second) that the operation appears to be continuous wave.
In the following experiment, I will be using the above fundamentals, with a different laser design.
The N2, or TEA laser, will be the backbone of this design.
This is a laser that uses pulsed electrical discharge to send the nitrogen in the air, through transition, and results in high but short (0.5-40ns) pulses. The design, in essence, is similar to a copper vapor. It has a pulsed, self terminating output.
The goal is simple. I am to take a solid metallic copper acetylacetonate with a vapor temperature of 40C, and then send the vapors through the spark gap of the laser. Resulting in a "Cu TEA laser".
The problems I will face may be difficult to overcome. They include heating the compound to vapor temp, acidic vapors, and sealing the unit in a "safe" way preventing the contamination of the surrounding environment.
I will also need to accomplish the pulses power as well. As this is not pure copper, so I will need to remove the copper from it's acetyacetonate. This will be a hurdle in and of itself.
This experiment will be equal parts fun, to dangerous. With a large heap of learning curve, and hands-on experience. I hope to take the knowledge from the following experimentation, and use them to advance on this design to a more "permanent", and less dangerous one. The goal is to not have glass supplies, and tubing and open laser parts everywhere.
What a mouthful!!!
The next, and shorter topic to explain, is the HeNeAr/609.07nm laser.
As some of you know, I have an orange tube doing 609.07nm. I rejoice now knowing that a second has been found! This is excellent! We now have further proof that this is related to REO. I am currently speaking to an owner of a third LTOR-0150 to see if it is also doing this. Will update if anything comes of it.
To explain this, requires a brief look back into REO's history. first of all, they never built argon lasers. So for them to be totally oblivious to the effects of their decisions, is very likely. Considering that at the time, argon lasers were still new. Even now, with forums containing a wealth of information, there are plenty that know little about them.
REO has a history of making Ne II indicator lamps using what's known as a "Penning mixture". This is a mixture that contains a gas you want to ionize, as well as a second gas in trace amounts to lower the temperature of the intended gas' ionization temp. In this case, they used 0.5% argon mixed in with the neon.
Had they known that this would result in orange light, I'm sure it wouldn't matter to them. Neon has an orange transmission anyway, so the additional argon would make no discernible difference.
The hypothesis now begins. We believe (Dr. Sam and I) that REO had begun using this neon with their HeNes not thinking anything of it. Why have two separate supplies of neon, when you could just keep one? It's just a trace amount of argon, no harm, right?
Wrong. Within a Penning mixture, you also have a chance of something called "Penning ionization" to occur. This is the name of a phenomena that occurs when you add gas B to gas A to lower the ionization temp of gas A, and you actually ionize both A and B. Oh no! Now that argon that we added, is actually lasing as well! You have accidentally created a HeNeAr laser
Now since some orange tubes have multiline optics allowing anything from as far away as 594 to resonate in a 612 tube, you are now covering the 609.07nm line from the argon. This is the only time you will see this line of course.
It is likely possible to get this line to lase in other REO tubes by using orange mirrors on both sides of the tube, though I will need to confirm this on my own.
So that pretty much wraps up the two main topics in my life
The rest is self explanatory
Any questions?! Either on the above information, or anything that's been twirling in your noggin lately
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