Game: Guess the mystery object !

[DJZ]

Well, it has two capacitors, one air core inductor, and is point to point soldered. I'd guess whatever it is operates at high frequencies (>1MHz), but it almost looks like there is a lens at the top left. No idea what the flat white object is, and wth is up with the rat's nest in the center?

It does indeed operate in the MHz range. As to the rats nest in the center, my guess is that was the fine tuning!

an ultrasonic range finder?

It is not an ultrasonic range finder.

 

[Flaminpyro]

A laser diode

Wow my post 3900 on thread post 2900 :crackup:

 

[DJZ]

A laser diode

Wow my post 3900 on thread post 2900 :crackup:

No, sorry, not a laser diode.

Should I give a hint?

 

[ekeup]

sure... Does it have to do with radio? light? sound? etc...

 

[DJZ]

sure... Does it have to do with radio? light? sound? etc...

Ok, it does have to do with light. Laser light to be more specific. Within the visible spectrum, I might add.

 

[ekeup]

wavelength sensor... whatever it's called... to determine the wavelength of laser light.

 

[DJZ]

wavelength sensor... whatever it's called... to determine the wavelength of laser light.

You mean a spectrometer? Nope, sorry!

I'll give one last hint before I just give the answer. A laser beam passes thru this device.

 

[Sigurthr]

It's an AOM - acousto-optic modulator. It modulates laser beams that can't be modulated at the point of generation like HeNes.

 

[DJZ]

It's an AOM - acousto-optic modulator. It modulates laser beams that can't be modulated at the point of generation like HeNes.

You are correct, sorta. This is actually a Poly Chromatic Acousto Optic Modulator (PCAOM) and was THE way to modulate a laser beam on the big ION laser projectors. White light beam in, and you can individually select up to 8 different lines of color.

 

[Sigurthr]

I've got one that will be quite easy if anyone's ever seen it before, or obscure if they havent.

The clue is that most people who know what it is, don't know how to read it.

 

[ekeup]

It's:
Smith chart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Next... item....

 

[ped]

Its hard to scale that, how big is it?

 

[ekeup]

Its hard to scale that, how big is it?

table size

 

[Sigurthr]

It almost looks like one of those filters used for some astronomy lamps, you know whole bunch of holes for light to shine through to make starts on a ceiling. Never seen one the size of a table, and no idea what's with the numbers and outlines. Also, the securing holes on the outside are unevenly placed. No idea really!

 

[ekeup]

It almost looks like one of those filters used for some astronomy lamps, you know whole bunch of holes for light to shine through to make starts on a ceiling. Never seen one the size of a table, and no idea what's with the numbers and outlines. Also, the securing holes on the outside are unevenly placed. No idea really!

It is/was not used in a planetarium...
here's a pic of more than one...

 

[jcranmer]

Those look like something I've seen before. I just can remember specifically what they are.

Maybe some type of "master" discs for duplication? Like a CD master?