Flavio's CuBr

Hello All,

A number of years ago I managed to secure what came to be two NORSELD CuBr lases.

These lasers were manufactured in Australia by Norseld for the cosmetic / medical applications.

There are a number of complex electronic control PCBs within the unit, which control the thyratron, High-Voltage power supply, Heaters, etc. I have been further advised that these units were connected to a console (Computer) that controlled the laser when installed in the medical practice. The console controlled the pulse (delivered to the patient), pulse width, power, colour, and also monitored the heaters of the laser... Unfortunately I did not receive these with the laser.

One of the PCBs control the heater temperature of the laser Tube / Bromide Store. There are three heaters which apparently are controlled electronically via software and Digital controlled pots, or there are three manual pots that can be adjusted but have been recommended against this as the bromide can be unevenly depleted out of the vessels.

It has been an invaluable learning tool, and come to think of it, where do you get 10 Watts of exotic golden -green and yellow laser light from 240 Volts input ?

The entire unit is around 1.2 meters long, 200mm wide and around 300mm high. The unit weighs in at around 30-40kg. These units sold for over $90,000 new.

The output of this laser is very impressive - nothing like that out of an Argon, or a high-power DPSS laser. This laser produces the most exotic emerald green and yellow light. The beam diameter is much larger that that of a typical laser at around 18mm diameter - its large. I have had this laser shine out of my garage door into the night, at 10 meters, you can feel a very nice warm feeling - Yes, you can actually feel the heat at this distance (the beam is much larger of course). At 2 meters from the output, I had placed a piece of cardboard, and in around 1 min to 2 min, the laser had managed to burn a hole through it - VERY impressive considering the size of the beam.

Enjoy

Absolutely fantastic!!
Thanks for sharing it with us! :thanks:

PS
You could add all your lasers under "Member Collections",
It would be easier to other's to drool you awesome collection

A very nice laser.

BTW no doubt you can feel the warm. Even I feel 100 mW 532 nm (but thinner beam) at about 5+ meters without problem.

In case of my Optotronics I did not tried to touch the beam (really I do not want to touch nearly 2 W of low divergent thin laser beam), but at this distance it burns with ease. Cigarette lit up within second. I need to try more distance burning tests yet. During laserpainting, I performed so far with this beast, I had to be extremely carefull. Even with diffraction grating applied on output, the beams were so intense. It was completely different level of safety needed, since even far side beams were eye killers. Definitely something requiring special approach beyond standards of my laser safety protocol. For example glasses on even in side beam areas far enough, where other lasers are considered to be eye safe, or no beam observation from common distance - even beam is so intense and painful to see. And now imagine moth or something crossing the beam (RIP dear insect). Usually it is not that problem untill very high power and thin beam is used. With the beast however I was scared by this scenario, so it was much harder to align the composition of beams.

Have seen these a few times in person at UKLEMs, awesome "little" CuBrs. Pretty neat when you throw on a set of scanners with big mirrors and an actuator with a G/Y dichro on the end. You can see the pulses as the beam scans.

What a fantastic score, Flavio. What wavelengths does it lase at? I know, I could look it up, but thought you'd know off the top of your head. We have another member here that has some exotic lasers. I think his user name is LaserBuilder. :yh:

paul1598419 said:

What a fantastic score, Flavio. What wavelengths does it lase at? I know, I could look it up, but thought you'd know off the top of your head. We have another member here that has some exotic lasers. I think his user name is LaserBuilder. :yh:

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Hello Paul,

The details on the CuBr Laser:

Laser Tube: Sealed Quartz tube with Quartz Windows.
Medium: Copper Bromide II.
Wavelengths: 578.2nm (Yellow), 510.6 (Green)
Output Power: 8 Watts (Typical) Max 10 Watts
Power Distribution: 2.5 Watts @ 578.2nm, 5.5 Watts @ 510.6nm
Beam Diameter at Aperture: 18mm
Pulse Frequency: 16Khz
Pulse Width: 30ns

A CuBr laser operates in a "double discharge" setup where the first discharge disassociates the copper atoms from the Bromide, this happens naturally at the operational frequency. The very fast rise time of the pulse is required as the lifetime of the copper atoms is very short.

The round trip through the resonator is around 2 times due to the self-terminating nature of the medium and the very high-gain of the laser. In fact, the laser is capable of lasing superradiently and or off your hand.

Considering the length of the tube and the pulse width, at 30ns, I'd expect the light to bounce maybe as much as 4 times, depending on the pressure in the tube. That would be at a much lower pressure than 1 atm. Have you ever considered trying to decrease the beam diameter? At 18mm, that is a fairly wide beam. Regardless, it is a great laser to have. Do you have a grating shot of the two beams?

I second this request^

paul1598419 said:

Considering the length of the tube and the pulse width, at 30ns, I'd expect the light to bounce maybe as much as 4 times, depending on the pressure in the tube. That would be at a much lower pressure than 1 atm. Have you ever considered trying to decrease the beam diameter? At 18mm, that is a fairly wide beam. Regardless, it is a great laser to have. Do you have a grating shot of the two beams?

Click to expand...

Cyparagon said:

I second this request^

Click to expand...

There was a picture kicking around somewhere from one of the UKLEMs that showed this. Can't find it now.

Instead, here's a picture of the same model of laser going through a scanner, outside, with a little rain.

That 578.2nm wavelength should look lemon yellow. That was what I was wanting to see. Still, thanks for the photo, diachi.

paul1598419 said:

That 578.2nm wavelength should look lemon yellow. That was what I was wanting to see. Still, thanks fr the photo, diachi.

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It sure does, it's a nice colour, especially in person with a couple of watts of it flying around.

Picture above of course is both wavelengths together.

I know. That is why I asked for a diffraction grating beam shot. I have seen 3 watts of 577nm and that was like going to heaven. :crackup:

paul1598419 said:

Considering the length of the tube and the pulse width, at 30ns, I'd expect the light to bounce maybe as much as 4 times, depending on the pressure in the tube. That would be at a much lower pressure than 1 atm. Have you ever considered trying to decrease the beam diameter? At 18mm, that is a fairly wide beam. Regardless, it is a great laser to have. Do you have a grating shot of the two beams?

Click to expand...

Hey Paul,

From discussions with Norseld whom manufacture the laser, the output coupler is designed to reflect only around 2% back. Generally by nature of the Copper Laser physics you would top out perhaps at 4 round trips, typically iv learnt only between 2-3 times as any more would be self-terminating if the stimulated emission.

The laser does have a focus lens as the light is launched into a delivery fibre. The diameter of the beam is governed by segmented sections in the tube which appear to confine the beam
Diameter. You could defiantly decrease the beam at the cost of power loss.

I had not at the time passed through a grating although there is a wavelength selective optic

Here are some further images of the tube, and light output.

I would still love to see a beam shot of that yellow. :thinking:

Very cool laser, I'd like to have one like this.