Pulsed Er:YAG Laser Destruction!!!

styropyro · Nov 12, 2015

I have been bitten by the flashlamp pumped laser bug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZl0PweNzEA

This laser averages somewhere around 20W, but peaks over 3000W during its pulses! This is a nifty laser that I have had sitting around for a while, but didn't get it operating till recently.

Inside the head there is a mount for what appears to be a rotating q-switch. If I can get that configured, I should be able to ionize air with this thing. :evil:

I plan on doing more projects with lasers like this...they are FUN and surplus parts can be had cheap. Plus their output powers can get to HUGE values, and on short enough time scales to do some weird stuff.

RedCowboy · Nov 12, 2015

Cool old technology.

I wonder if a cavity has been built with multiple lamps around the rod to get a higher cyclic rate by alternating lamps.

I say old technology but,
The national ignition facility passes a seed laser beam through boxes full of neodymium doped glass plates that amplify the beam by way of flash lamps...big ones, a lot of critical timing and phase matching to converge many beams that actually pump crystals near the end to shift the wavelength.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixhyPN0r3g

We really only recently have direct emitters that can reach huge power levels.
Such as HELLADS

We were supposed to be working on a ultra high field laser that can rip apart the fabric of space/time, yes it's supposed to be a vacuum, but tiny particles they say come into and out of existence. China built a space engine then NASA did the same because at first they said it was impossible, but now the head scratching continues...but hey, lets fire the biggest laser we can build into space and see what happens LOL

Could be interesting.

ELI Ultra-High Field laser could rip apart antimatter and boil the vacuum of space | Geek-Cetera | Geek.com

Gabe · Nov 12, 2015

Very nice, I saw that as soon as it came out. My favourite parts were when the electrical tape was shooting smoke rings, as well as the balloon line

styropyro · Nov 12, 2015

RedCowboy said:
Cool old technology.

I wonder if a cavity has been built with multiple lamps around the rod to get a higher cyclic rate by alternating lamps.

I say old technology but,
The national ignition facility passes a seed laser beam through boxes full of neodymium doped glass plates that amplify the beam by way of flash lamps...big ones, a lot of critical timing and phase matching to converge many beams that actually pump crystals near the end to shift the wavelength.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixhyPN0r3g

We really only recently have direct emitters that can reach huge power levels.
Such as HELLADS

We were supposed to be working on a ultra high field laser that can rip apart the fabric of space/time, yes it's supposed to be a vacuum, but tiny particles they say come into and out of existence. China built a space engine then NASA did the same because at first they said it was impossible, but now the head scratching continues...but hey, lets fire the biggest laser we can build into space and see what happens LOL

Could be interesting.

ELI Ultra-High Field laser could rip apart antimatter and boil the vacuum of space | Geek-Cetera | Geek.com

This is the kind of research I'd love to do while getting my PhD....I don't think anything else would better satisfy my pyromania than using HUGE lasers to rip apart space!!!

Gabe said:
Very nice, I saw that as soon as it came out. My favourite parts were when the electrical tape was shooting smoke rings, as well as the balloon line

The smoke rings come off of nearly anything flamamble with this laser! The mini explosion that occurs when the laser pulse hits sends out a little fireball that makes nice smoke rings.

H2Oxide · Nov 12, 2015

Really neat!

About how many J does it spit out per pulse?

styropyro · Nov 12, 2015

It outputs around 0.5J-1J depending on pulse rate, and the pulse duration is around 250 microseconds. That gives peak output in the kilowatts!

H2Oxide · Nov 12, 2015

styropyro said:
It outputs around 0.5J-1J depending on pulse rate, and the pulse duration is around 250 microseconds. That gives peak output in the kilowatts!

Wow, have you tried boiling water with it yet? even with only half a joule you should have more than enough energy to boil the water at the beam's entry point (assuming it doesn't diverge much).

I'm surprised more members haven't explored Er:YAG, especially since 2.94μm is almost exactly at one of water's absorbtion peaks.

Apparently Er:YAG is also capable of completely obliterating thin layers of skin, so be careful.

Andrew124C41 · Nov 13, 2015

Hey Styro...you just can't get enough can you. I was a kid when I saw the first plans for using a xenon flash to pump a ruby laser. Really cool!

You won't be satisfied until you blast your way into another dimension.

Just be sure you can find your way back.

Nice!

RB astro · Nov 13, 2015

Love the stuff that you do Styro !
Thanks for another great video.
LOL, I still have an Attacknid ready to mod, LOL.

RB

:wave:

diachi · Nov 13, 2015

Nice video, looks like a pile of fun!

H2Oxide said:
Wow, have you tried boiling water with it yet? even with only half a joule you should have more than enough energy to boil the water at the beam's entry point (assuming it doesn't diverge much).

I'm surprised more members haven't explored Er:YAG, especially since 2.94μm is almost exactly at one of water's absorbtion peaks.

Apparently Er:YAG is also capable of completely obliterating thin layers of skin, so be careful.

I'd get into it if I had the cash sitting around, as I'm sure many others would! Been wanting something pulsed and high powered lately...

styropyro · Nov 13, 2015

H2Oxide said:
Wow, have you tried boiling water with it yet? even with only half a joule you should have more than enough energy to boil the water at the beam's entry point (assuming it doesn't diverge much).

I'm surprised more members haven't explored Er:YAG, especially since 2.94μm is almost exactly at one of water's absorbtion peaks.

Apparently Er:YAG is also capable of completely obliterating thin layers of skin, so be careful.

Yes I have! Hitting a wet rag with the laser sounds like a 22 going off. The water flash boils off of the surface and makes a small explosion, complete with a little crater!

Andrew124C41 said:
Hey Styro...you just can't get enough can you. I was a kid when I saw the first plans for using a xenon flash to pump a ruby laser. Really cool!

You won't be satisfied until you blast your way into another dimension.

Just be sure you can find your way back.

Nice!

I am in it for the long haul.

I hope to be working with lasers for a very long time...I am planning on getting a PhD in optics and specializing on something with lasers.

RB astro said:
Love the stuff that you do Styro !
Thanks for another great video.
LOL, I still have an Attacknid ready to mod, LOL.

RB

:wave:

Thanks! Good luck with the Attacknid!!

diachi said:
Nice video, looks like a pile of fun!

I'd get into it if I had the cash sitting around, as I'm sure many others would! Been wanting something pulsed and high powered lately...

Thanks! You can get these Er:YAG heads on ebay for $150, but building a PSU for it will cost quite a bit more. Those Nd:YAG SSY heads also go on eBay quite often, but it may be hard to find one outside of the US.

diachi · Nov 13, 2015

styropyro said:
Thanks! You can get these Er:YAG heads on ebay for $150, but building a PSU for it will cost quite a bit more. Those Nd:YAG SSY heads also go on eBay quite often, but it may be hard to find one outside of the US.

I've tried the SSY1 route before but as you said it's not easy finding someone who'll ship to Canada.

Didn't know the Er:YAG heads were so cheap, might be worth while then.

Edit: Not seeing those kinda prices at the moment

H2Oxide · Nov 13, 2015

diachi said:
Edit: Not seeing those kinda prices at the moment

Really? There's 2 Er:YAG Big Sky heads on ebay right now with a starting bid of $150.

Here and here.

I might bid on one if another offer falls through.

Edit: Just realized you were in Canada and the shipping might be really expensive.

joeyss · Nov 13, 2015

Hey Stryo try it on a ice cube and record a video.

Maybe make a big block of ice. I wanna see what happens

NightExplorer96 · Nov 13, 2015

Neat!

Thanks for sharing styro!

Edit: I do have a question. Why use 2.4um instead of saying nm? Never understood

-Alex

diachi · Nov 13, 2015

LeHap said:
Neat!

Thanks for sharing styro!

Edit: I do have a question. Why use 2.4um instead of saying nm? Never understood

-Alex

It's shorter - good form to use the shortest possible notation if my memory from high school physics is correct.

2.4um instead of 2400nm.

H2Oxide said:
Really? There's 2 Er:YAG Big Sky heads on ebay right now with a starting bid of $150.

Here and here.

I might bid on one if another offer falls through.

Edit: Just realized you were in Canada and the shipping might be really expensive.

Thanks for the links!

Didn't see those when I looked on the Canadian eBay. Unfortunately they don't ship here, so that may be why I didn't see them.

Pulsed Er:YAG Laser Destruction!!!

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