8 line TUNABLE argon

[bloompyle]

So, you may have been noticing a few hints from me relating to a "gassy gift" or similar. Well, it's finally here!

I got an email from Dr. Goldwasser a few weeks back asking if I had interest in it. It's like he doesn't even know me...... Anyway, of course I wanted to get my grubby little hands on it. I asked about a price (expecting 4 figures) after a 3 figure quote, I pulled the plug.

It arrived yesterday, I was in no mood to setup a review at the time, so I just played and cooked my dorm. Here I am today with a video of all 8 lines! I'm no actor, and I do terrible talking on the spot to someone who isn't even there... So don't be too rude! At one point in the video I say I want a 457 in single mode; I meant single line. Sorry! Enjoy!

 

[Sigurthr]

Heh, I called it.

Excellent, can't wait to see it.

 

[bloompyle]

Lucky guess

Youtube is telling me 40 more minutes. It was 1.36gb.

Portal 2 is calling.

 

[weeba2kv]

Hurry up !

 

[Meatball]

Dammit youtube! Dammit you Nebraskan internet connections!

 

[bloompyle]

Voila!

 

[n2stuff]

We need many pictures of the laser:drool:

 

[ryansoh3]

Wow, what camera did you use?

It seems like the video is higher res than 1080p!

The 476nm at 3:45 looks beautiful!

 

[Speedy78]

Very nice! What does this tuning nut look like? Just curious. Now all you have to do is work to get 501 line.

 

[bloompyle]

We need many pictures of the laser:drool:

I'll see what I can do. Got a lot going on here.

Wow, what camera did you use?

It seems like the video is higher res than 1080p!

My iPhone

Very nice! What does this tuning nut look like? Just curious. Now all you have to do is work to get 501 line.

It's a 5/8th nut that blends in to the unit very well, had to ask Sam since it's not even labeled!

Watch til the end, got the 501.7 working for all 8 lines

 

[Speedy78]

Nice. I didnt watch it that far. Can the nut be turned by finger or do you need a wrench. I wonder if the prism inside is lose and rocks slightly causing thst line to not show up sometimes.

 

[bloompyle]

I use a socket driver.

Not sure really, Sam mentioned that it may be dirty, but I don't want to mess with it until I'm comfortable aligning a tunable argon...optics in these are a PITA.

 

[Sigurthr]

Just watched the vid, excellent! It is truly nice being able to select a line you want, kind of makes it more like 8 lasers in one. One day I'd like to get a diffraction mirror and slit set up so that I can externally "tune" my ML argon.

 

[bloompyle]

I'd much rather this than an ML. I like to be able to select the wavelength I want. I was incredibly excited to finally view the 2 ~500nm lines, and by themselves at that. They may only have SL argons in 458, 488, and 514, but they have these, and I'd pick it over anything. Aside from maybe an Ar/Kr running single phase on 110V mains

 

[Sigurthr]

With an external diffraction mirror and an optical slit on a turntable you can achieve the same effect where you select what wavelength you want individually. You just have the laser always lasing at all lines at all times instead of one at a time. Think of it as an external selector. The trade off is that with the external selection you need more space and a stable environment, but it is easier to get the line you want on demand every time, no mucking about to try to get one line in alignment in order to get it to lase.

 

[bloompyle]

And how does one pull this off? I tried that with a sheet of paper with holes, and a diffraction grating. Failed.