Greetings!
I've been interested in lasers for most of my life, but I've been out of it for many years.
I've just discovered this forum, and I'm amazed at how far technology has advanced over 20 years....back when I was doing lasers, the best you could do as a HeNe 0.5mw tube for several thousand dollars, or you built your own. Burning lasers at home.....well, you had to have a LOT of $$$ to make that happen, and had to be comfortable handling very high voltages around water...
I actually built a Rhodamine 6G dye laser from scratch - including machining mirror mounts, etc. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in one of my many moves....the only thing that I still have from my early days is a 15mw HeNe head from an old IBM laser printer. Very big printer - printed 120 pages per minute in the mid-'80s. I'll have to see if it still works.
At any rate, I've been lurking for a few weeks, and the bug has bitten me again! Time to show my kids the new solid state lasers (and how to handle them safely!).
Looking forward to participating, as much as my time allows!
I've been interested in lasers for most of my life, but I've been out of it for many years.
I've just discovered this forum, and I'm amazed at how far technology has advanced over 20 years....back when I was doing lasers, the best you could do as a HeNe 0.5mw tube for several thousand dollars, or you built your own. Burning lasers at home.....well, you had to have a LOT of $$$ to make that happen, and had to be comfortable handling very high voltages around water...
I actually built a Rhodamine 6G dye laser from scratch - including machining mirror mounts, etc. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in one of my many moves....the only thing that I still have from my early days is a 15mw HeNe head from an old IBM laser printer. Very big printer - printed 120 pages per minute in the mid-'80s. I'll have to see if it still works.
At any rate, I've been lurking for a few weeks, and the bug has bitten me again! Time to show my kids the new solid state lasers (and how to handle them safely!).
Looking forward to participating, as much as my time allows!