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FrozenGate by Avery

Coolest experements you guys have done?

Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

Repumped several argons to whitelight tubes...

Drove 800 miles round trip to do a emergency repair on a medical system, when no one else could, or would,,, So a guy could get his retina re-attached the morning.

Repaired (no charge) a holography system for breast cancer detection that could spot a lump before X-ray...

Got the first accurate mapping of the velocity of electrospun fiber..using laser doppler.
(ie picked up the scattering and tracked something less then 300 nM in diameter from 30 cm away)


Shot holographic optical elements for making a flat, thin film, achromatic lens with a long focal length.
(Dont even THINK about it Frothy.. :-) )

Live laser show for Pink floyd Tribute Band...
And those are the ones I can talk about..

Steve
 
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Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

Repumped several argons to whitelight tubes...

Drove 800 miles round trip to do a emergency repair on a medical system, when no one else could, or would,,, So a guy could get his retina re-attached the morning.

Repaired (no charge) a holography system for breast cancer detection that could spot a lump before X-ray...

Got the first accurate mapping of the velocity of electrospun fiber..using laser doppler.
(ie picked up the scattering and tracked something less then 300 nM in diameter from 30 cm away)


Shot holographic optical elements for making a flat, thin film, achromatic lens with a long focal length.
(Dont even THINK about it Frothy.. :-) )

Live laser show for Pink floyd Tribute Band...
And those are the ones I can talk about..

Steve


... intense.
What do you do for a living? (if you can answer that :P)
 
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Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

I expermned with spell checker-Just kiddin' lol I need it more than anybody!!( sad part is my BS degree in Journalism) and no spell checker back then--Fail
 
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Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

my most interesting one was to burn any old IC, totally melt it, then extract the silicone chip and shine a laser on it :cool: it's like a difraction grating
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

I'm not much of a burner.

With light, one of the coolest things I have done is to make my own "rainbow" in the backyard.

One night during a rain storm, I used a ML argon from inside my garage to make it. I shined the argon from inside the garage and directed the beam out the door and around into the back yard with FS mirrors. Then shined the beam onto a diffraction mirror at one end of the yard. The divergence by now was pretty large so the "color lines" were < 6 inches in diameter and diverging quickly. The color lines were reflected off of the raindrops so that the "fan" of color was twinkling across the dark background of the clouded night sky.

Unfortunately, I did not have (and still do not have) the photographic/video skills to have captured the image.

Picture this shining up into the dark sky, spreading out over 50 feet wide, and twinkling

lgnew20.jpg


Peace,
dave
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

The best "work-related" laser exercise was assembling a medical 2 watt Green laser in an overhead truss,
and then scanning it down at the smoke-filled stage to form a pyramid around Jimmy Page.

Then rotating the pyramid faster until it turned into a cone enveloping the Led Zep guitarist for his "Stairway to Heaven" solo.

Optical trapping was also quite amusing.
Here is my post on the theory and procedure:

Optical trapping real laser tractor beams

LarryDFW
 
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Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

my most interesting one was to burn any old IC, totally melt it, then extract the silicone chip and shine a laser on it :cool: it's like a difraction grating

You mean this whole time I've been chipping at IC's with a crap pair of wirecutters when I could have just burned the stupid things? Well, good to know, I love looking at chips, I'd make a table out of 'em if I could expose them all...

And my favorites are:

optical trapping (as seen on tv...erm youtube...)

laser "microscopy" is interesting too, although not the best pictures. Basically, I focus the laser down to a point and shine it on something super tiny, like a speck of dust. it would be sitting on something shiny like a FS mirror (I used a HD platter). Then, when you look at the reflected blob on the wall in front of you, you can "see" the speck of dust's shadow, very sharp image, but kind of distorted. Light is amazing. Too bad I can't work with light
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

... intense.
What do you do for a living? (if you can answer that :P)

I make duct tape..

I'm no longer allowed to kill you. So now if I tell you they just enter 3 divorce settlements in each of our names...

Seriously...

Specialized sound and light systems.

But I have 8 years of doing research for a major university...

Steve
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

I make duct tape..

I'm no longer allowed to kill you. So now if I tell you they just enter 3 divorce settlements in each of our names...

Seriously...

Specialized sound and light systems.

But I have 8 years of doing research for a major university...

Steve
You also are a big help to many at LPF and your stuff is even on Sam's Laser FAQ-- true??---- big Dr. Sam fan-hak
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

You also are a big help to many at LPF and your stuff is even on Sam's Laser FAQ-- true??---- big Dr. Sam fan-hak


Yeah, much of the gas stuff was written when I was in college...
And quite a bit of the rest...
Sam has many contributors...
Steve
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

I focussed the beam of my new style dilda on a ligh brown carton box, expecting most of the beam to be diffused away, but surprisingly I was able to easily burn holes in it... and even write words on it, if I moved the focussed spot quickly enough.
On the other hand, I tried to focus it on a black liquorice candy, expecting to be able to etch it like I had done with a CD case... instead, the effects were minimal and the surface was barely nicked.
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

The best "work-related" laser exercise was assembling a medical 2 watt Green laser in an overhead truss,
and then scanning it down at the smoke-filled stage to form a pyramid around Jimmy Page.

Then rotating the pyramid faster until it turned into a cone enveloping the Led Zep guitarist for his "Stairway to Heaven" solo.

He was doing that bit when he played with The Firm too. I saw it. Did you do that too, or copy it? Or did they copy you? What year was it when you did it :thinking:?
 
Re: Coolest experemnts you guys have done?

He was doing that bit when he played with The Firm too. I saw it. Did you do that too, or copy it? Or did they copy you? What year was it when you did it :thinking:?

I worked for Showco Inc., where we did the first original laser projector work for Led Zep in the mid '70's.

The green laser was a 3 ft. long air-cooled model designed for eye surgery.

I was not involved with The Firm tour, so I don't know where the light show design came from.

LarryDFW
 
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The most interesting thing I've tried to do was optical trapping. The environment I was in, unfortunately, was too breezy. Instead, I ended up blasting a chunk out of my fingertip (literally) with a 1.5W laser focused to a perfect point. :o

-Trevor
 


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