What is the enjoyment?

[GSS]

From a hobby stand point and not for research what is the main reason the love of NeHe or Argon gas lasers?
Is it the wavelength's that you can get, the beam spec's and always wanted to ask if a 1mw gas laser has the same comparison to a 1mw typical pointer.
Kinda simply what doe's a hobbiest do with them for enjoyment?

 

[diachi]

From a hobby stand point and not for research what is the main reason the love of NeHe or Argon gas lasers?
Is it the wavelength's that you can get, the beam spec's and always wanted to ask if a 1mw gas laser has the same comparison to a 1mw typical pointer.
Kinda simply what doe's a hobbiest do with them for enjoyment?

Beam specs (superior to diode, on par with many DPSS lasers), available wavelengths, old school technology, often cool glass work and such. There's just something about them though that I'll always prefer...

 

[CurtisOliver]

Beam specs, available wavelengths, old school technology, often cool glass work and such. There's just something about them though that I'll always prefer...

Definitely, I prefer the beam specs of gas lasers. And I also like looking at my HeNe tube lighting up with a beautiful reddish/pink line. I use my HeNe for low power alignment and optic tests. An my argon simply because of the 488nm wavelength.

 

[GSS]

I'm guessing they need a dedicated work space, much setup, and not much movement "according to size". Do they have a back spot setup for the beam and again guessing cooling for long duty cycle's.
Thanks for my silly questions
While i'm at it most home units are for visual pleasure than burning and etc.?

 

[CurtisOliver]

Newer model HeNe's are fine to run without a duty cycle. But for my one, I do need to be careful as it gets pretty warm. Not too much set up is needed for HeNe's. Just used it a couple of times to get accurate data for my adjustable beam expanders. As for Argons, CO2's, Krypton's etc they need good amounts of cooling and back stops depend on the power of the beam really. My argon is huge and heavy compared to my HeNe, so in order to use it I would have to set up an area for it.
You should definitely get into gas lasers as well. They are a completely different laser experience.

 

[diachi]

I'm guessing they need a dedicated work space, much setup, and not much movement "according to size". Do they have a back spot setup for the beam and again guessing cooling for long duty cycle's.
Thanks for my silly questions
While i'm at it most home units are for visual pleasure than burning and etc.?

Depends what you go for - a little HeNe that's only doing a few mWs will be fairly small - plenty of people have handhelds that are bigger. My argon sits on the glass shelf attached to my desk and is easy enough to move around - although that's about as small as they usually come.

Take it you mean back stop? As in a beam stop? If so - just depends. My argon does 30mW, a large frame water cooled argon might do 5W - although it'll eat about 10kW of electricity to make that... CO2 lasers are generally higher power and would need a beam stop.

They all usually have indefinite duty cycles, although with varying degrees of cooling. A small HeNe tube will quite happily run until it dies with nothing more than passive cooling - but they usually only consume at most a few 10s of watts. The smallest argon laser you'll be able to find will be dumping around 800W at full power and will need a large fan to run for anything more than a few 10s of seconds.

Newer model HeNe's are fine to run without a duty cycle. But for my one, I do need to be careful as it gets pretty warm. Not too much set up is needed for HeNe's. Just used it a couple of times to get accurate data for my adjustable beam expanders. As for Argons, CO2's, Krypton's etc they need good amounts of cooling and back stops depend on the power of the beam really. My argon is huge and heavy compared to my HeNe, so in order to use it I would have to set up an area for it.
You should definitely get into gas lasers as well. They are a completely different laser experience.

There are some small RF excited CO2s that do ~10W that are passively cooled, but most of them are water cooled . A few people have made portable CO2s using the ~10W units.

 

[CurtisOliver]

I have seen those portable CO2's before. They are impressive.

 

[GSS]

Yup, I did mean beam stop
As far as getting into these, its a long long shot away for now. Maby a diode labby in the future.
Something to lay back on the couch and just watch that favorite WL "i'm craving the aqua or sky blue lately" and not counting the seconds its on.
Good stuff everyone:beer:
Also any difference as far as fog needed for visability?

 

[CurtisOliver]

Then get searching for a cheap Argon
Just like any other laser, low power beams will need fog. But with gas have tighter beam profiles, you shouldn't need too much.

 

[diachi]

Yup, I did mean beam stop
As far as getting into these, its a long long shot away for now. Maby a diode labby in the future.
Something to law back on the couch and just watch that favorite WL "i'm craving the aqua or sky blue lately" and not counting the seconds its on.
Good stuff everyone:beer:
Also any difference as far as fog needed for visability?

I can see the beam from 30mW of 488 just fine in a lit room, and it looks great in the dark. Of course, fog would have it looking even better.

As Curtis said, just depends on the power and wavelength.

 

[CDBEAM777]

Well...If you wanna see " The works glowing " in a Laser Diode unit....see some of my attached builds ( Especially the " Dragon's Head build). Some members have noted that a clear canopy display looks...."attractive"....I think some think it looks....well..." cluttered "....to each his own.

I have some " Gasser's"....as they are referred. The beam is a pure circle, minimal divergence. Ultra clean...Gaussian beam profile ...very nice....but big, high voltage and lower power ! The Enjoy the ride !!

CDBEAM:san:

 

[paul1598419]

Yeah, I love my gas lasers as well, but started collecting them again because they are the only ones you can make a decent hologram with. I was making holograms back in the early 1980s after I saw "The Kiss II" back in 1974. It looks like a moving hologram though it is made by making a lot of thin strip holograms, side by side, of a motion picture. "The Kiss II" was made by Lloyd Cross, a famous holographer, back in 1973. It was made of Pam Brazier, another holographer, blowing a kiss an then winking at you. It is on a long piece of holographic film that is usually placed in a cylinder form with a light coming in from underneath. It is about maybe 18 inches tall and if it is placed in a stationary place like the wall of the first floor of the Physics Building at Lamar University, as you walk by you see a three dimensional image of a very pretty woman throwing you a kiss and then winking at you. In 1974 that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Got hooked for life.

 

[diachi]

Yeah, I love my gas lasers as well, but started collecting them again because they are the only ones you can make a decent hologram with. I was making holograms back in the early 1980s after I saw "The Kiss II" back in 1974. It looks like a moving hologram though it is made by making a lot of thin strip holograms, side by side, of a motion picture. "The Kiss II" was made by Lloyd Cross, a famous holographer, back in 1973. It was made of Pam Brazier, another holographer, blowing a kiss an then winking at you. It is on a long piece of holographic film that is usually placed in a cylinder form with a light coming in from underneath. It is about maybe 18 inches tall and if it is placed in a stationary place like the wall of the first floor of the Physics Building at Lamar University, as you walk by you see a three dimensional image of a very pretty woman throwing you a kiss and then winking at you. In 1974 that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Got hooked for life.

I thought the Coherent Compass series and other SLM DPSS lasers were good for Holograms too?

 

[paul1598419]

I've heard that too. They are still fairly new and not inexpensive, though. There are all sort of holographic technology that I will never be able to do. I'd love to do portrait holography, but need a very short pulsed ruby laser to do that. Some of the newer solid state lasers are great for doing full color holography, but the optics involved are very special and extremely expensive to use. I'll just plod along with my monochromatic reflection holograms.

 

[Encap]

I thought the Coherent Compass series and other SLM DPSS lasers were good for Holograms too?

Diachi:
Here is an interesting series of pages about holograms by a guy who made all sorts of good hologram with a $7.99 laser pointer.
See: LASER POINTER / DIODE HOLOGRAPHY: Part One

 

[paul1598419]

Diachi:
Here is an interesting series of pages about holograms by a guy who made all sorts of good hologram with a $7.99 laser pointer.
See: LASER POINTER / DIODE HOLOGRAPHY: Part One

Those are all transmission holograms and need a laser to view them. I make refection holograms that can be viewed in ordinary light. There is a huge difference.