473nm [BLUE] .VS. 603nm [YELLOW]

Free lasers. Funny. That'll be the day. Entitlement blows my mind, the idea that someone even thinks that by posting on a forum they'll be given a ~$1000 device. There is no free lunch. Ever. You'll always be paying with something -- time, sweat equity, or cash. (Unless you're a celebrity - celebrities don't pay for anything )

That said, if 603 somehow happened (it won't) for under say $1300, I'd probably be there to buy it.

Yes, people with "through the roof, twice" reputations like daguin and jayrob (and I think HemlockMike got one once) may be given free lasers if a company feels that their input will somehow outweigh the cost of a traditional advertising campaign. (And you can bet that the one they send will likely be cherry-picked.) But you have to be a LPF superstar for that to happen. Not just a vet, and certainly not just by asking.

I've done a number of reviews -- and i've paid in full for every one of the lasers I've reviewed. Even doing reviews won't get you consideration, usually - you have to be a "go-to person" in the community. Forget just making saccharine posts.

As far as orange goes:

Try to find yourself a 604 or 612nm HeNe.
Even for "expensive".
Just try to find one, for any cost.

Go ahead. I'll be waiting.

Greetings, gentlemen.
Actually, A tunable HeNe is on sale in sam's classifieds, with ALL the visible HeNe wavelengths Avalable At the turn of A knob!
Incidentally, the cost is 2000 usd.

I Am in NO way Affiliated with Sam's Laser Faq.
I just wish to spread the information.

Marked One said:

Greetings, gentlemen.
Actually, A tunable HeNe is on sale in sam's classifieds, with ALL the visible HeNe wavelengths Avalable At the turn of A knob!
Incidentally, the cost is 2000 usd.

I Am in NO way Affiliated with Sam's Laser Faq.
I just wish to spread the information.

Click to expand...

I've had my eye on that laser for a while, even talked to Sam about it,
but here's why I haven't pulled the trigger on it:

- Soft sealed. If you forget to run it regularly, it becomes a $2000 doorstop.

- The esoteric wavelengths occur at 0.5-1.0 mW.

- Shipping. It's amazingly fragile, especially with that tuning assembly. Sam said there is a decent chance that when it arrives it may not lase.. and you may have to go through the "beam finding procedure". He says its doable, but I've had horrible luck with gas laser shipping...

That said, I still do reconsider it from time to time. Besides this, there are no Orange hene lasers left. Period. I talked in depth to Melles Griot, JDSU, and REO. None of them can or do make them anymore, nor do they have any surplus.(I even had a guy crawling around the CVI/MG warehouse for a few days -- nuthin.)

I don't know if the use they had was obsoleted quickly or what; it just seems that very few were ever produced .

aryntha said:

That said, I still do reconsider it from time to time. Besides this, there are no Orange hene lasers left. Period. I talked in depth to Melles Griot, JDSU, and REO. None of them can or do make them anymore, nor do they have any surplus.(I even had a guy crawling around the CVI/MG warehouse for a few days -- nuthin.)

Click to expand...

And with that, Trevor's hopes and dreams of a complete HeNe collection were forever dashed.

-Trevor

I'll take both! Seriously I have always liked a Yellow, it would also be awesomely BRIGHT!!

twhite828 said:

And with that, Trevor's hopes and dreams of a complete HeNe collection were forever dashed.

-Trevor

Click to expand...

Well, never give up hope.

I even contacted some laser suppliers overseas (such as Laser2000) and even some chinese companies that were advertising them in their portfolio.

Zip.

Through known channels and the people who made them, and eBay, they're simply gone.

543, 594 and of course 633 are still actively made. Doing 612 or 604 is mainly a matter of bore size and mirrors, (and, of course, yield) - but all I can figure is that there simply is no remaining market for orange lasers. Nothing that red or yellow can't do as well or better.

In other situations it was because a diode or DPSS replaced many uses... this obviously isn't the case with orange HeNe.

I wish I had resources back in the 1980s and even early 1990s when JDSU and MG still actively produced 612.

... That said, there have to (well.... should) be some somewhere. Somewhere we don't know. I'm absolutely game on starting a LPF 612nm HeNe Task Force to try to locate the impossible, though

I'm game. How can I help?

Well, I sent out feelers once again to Jain Lasertech, in India, who does claim that they still make them. I've not been able to get a positive response in the past.

First things first is help for research. Maybe we can start a new thread on this in the Gas or Colored section, and folks can try contacting potential companies even about a possible production run. (For example, REO tells me they don't make them; but they may have the mirrors still available and possibly could produce a run of them. I don't know...)

Also, finding out what they were used for. I have some vague information that they were used in particle counters, and PMS (Partcle Measurement Systems) was a division/sister company to REO (Research Electro Optics) , and made their "Lasair" particle counters.

I know most PMS Lasair particle counters use a run of the mill 632.8, but I believe some used 611.9. If some folks could branch out and dig on that, aned see if it's true, that'd be one way to help.

twhite828 said:

Well, there are the ones that are sold by companies like Boblaser... not sure if they're made by a different company or if they're just CNI QC rejects.

-Trevor

Click to expand...

Boblaser has yellow, (I bet it's a CNI... ?)

btw, I am still getting CNI 589nm (CNI GLP589 models) that are rated 1mW, (but usually prove to exceed 4mW for $250+ shipping and PP fee and no min. order now... -GH

aryntha here you go Multi-Line HeNe with 612nm.

http://www.reoinc.com/files/FiveLineHeilum.pdf

Thanks for posting CL, that's quite interesting, what is the cost? -GH

I have never seen a price list, but I can only imagine. I worked at Denver Instruments, and had to do an on-site calibration at the Boulder facility. I had forgotten about them until this thread reminded Me.

Are you SURE they still make them, CL? This is the same unit we're talking about that Sam Goldwasser has, that I'm considering. Sam wants $2000 for it, AFAIK they retail for $8000. But I was under the impression that they were no longer produced, at least directly from REO's mouth.

I'm in the Denver/Boulder area too, and I spoke to REO *at length* about 612. Their final response was that they only produce 632.8, 594 and 544 at this time.

I know REO has all of the spec sheets and part number lists on their site, but this didn't seem to matter when contacting them directly.

I'm not sure why they remain listed, but REO certainly would not sell a 612 or multiline to me, in any shape or form.

If you know otherwise, that'd be a great help...

aryntha said:

Well, never give up hope.

I even contacted some laser suppliers overseas (such as Laser2000) and even some chinese companies that were advertising them in their portfolio.

Zip.

Through known channels and the people who made them, and eBay, they're simply gone.

543, 594 and of course 633 are still actively made. Doing 612 or 604 is mainly a matter of bore size and mirrors, (and, of course, yield) - but all I can figure is that there simply is no remaining market for orange lasers. Nothing that red or yellow can't do as well or better.

In other situations it was because a diode or DPSS replaced many uses... this obviously isn't the case with orange HeNe.

I wish I had resources back in the 1980s and even early 1990s when JDSU and MG still actively produced 612.

... That said, there have to (well.... should) be some somewhere. Somewhere we don't know. I'm absolutely game on starting a LPF 612nm HeNe Task Force to try to locate the impossible, though

Click to expand...

Well I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but Edmunds has tunable HeNes in stock, they're not as cheap as Sam, but they're not $8000, their cheapest in-stock 110v model is $3995. They claim .5mW on the 604nm line and 2.5mW on the 612nm line.

5-Color Tunable Helium-Neon Laser - Edmund Optics

Prototype said:

Well I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but Edmunds has tunable HeNes in stock, they're not as cheap as Sam, but they're not $8000, their cheapest in-stock 110v model is $3995. They claim .5mW on the 604nm line and 2.5mW on the 612nm line.

5-Color Tunable Helium-Neon Laser - Edmund Optics

Click to expand...

Well, that's minimum.... so new they'd likely do over that. It'd be interesting to see what would happen if someone attempted to order one though. There's no way they're sitting in stock being stored for years, though; they're soft-seal...

Gonna take more digging. I'm talking to Sam, and trying to get the output specs on the one he has.

Nice find Prototype. I was going to mention that I see that laser in their monthly catalog.

Now, are we JUST looking for 611? Or 604? Or are we looking for tunable HeNes?

Do HeNe's ever come in a multi-line variety? Or is that just for Ion gas lasers?