Just Another Yellow HeNe Thread

[H2Oxide]

Hellooo!
I just got a PS for my yellow HeNe! Turned it on, and what do you know, the most beautiful yellow dot appeared on my wall!
This is not my first gas laser, but it's the first HeNe I have ever turned on! Not really the way I would have liked to started,
I would have preferred a bare tube, but hey, a freakin' yellow HeNe is fine with me

(sorry for the horrible pics, my iPhone's camera doesn't do this anything close to justice. )

This little guy only set me back $33! (18+SH) :drool:
And made in 2009! What a steal!
Also, special thank you to Sigurthr for helping me with my first HeNe, and argon for leading me to the auction!

 

[Mattronium]

Wow, Amazing price.
This is you first HeNe? looks like your starting at the top. What is its power?

It's probably better that it is in a head vs bare tube, the heads have better protection for the tube.
May I ask how you got it?

 

[H2Oxide]

No way to tell the power, as I don't have an LPM yet. But it looks brighter than my 4mw argon, that's probably just because it's yellow. Tube says 5mw max. As for how I acquired it, argon posted an auction in one of the recent yellow HeNe threads. Unknown condition, lot of 3 for $100. (so yeah, it wasn't truly $33 but the other tubes seem intact, so about 33$ per tube.) Sort of a high risk, high reward kind of thing. Forgot to add a thank you to him, I'll do that now.

 

[crazyspaz]

You say "just another yellow hene" as if its not a coveted thing of beauty
You got 3 YELLOW tubes for 100$??? Willing to share!?

 

[H2Oxide]

Haha, no I guess that part may have been misleading. 3 yellows for $100 probably has the same probability of happening as wining the lottery.
I got a red, green and yellow in the lot . I titled it as such because there have been at least 2 other yellow Hene posts recently .

 

[crazyspaz]

Still, quite an amazing deal. Was it on ebay? If so, im surprised I didnt see it, I have basically everything laser related in my feed

 

[H2Oxide]

Yeah, it was an eBay item, probably the reason it didn't show up is the title had nothing to do with the words "Helium" or "Neon". The guy just put the model numbers in and called it good. No other bidders either, which goes to show that you should always list what it actually is, not just the numbers you see on it. :crackup:
Original Listing

 

[Sigurthr]

Haha, awesome! Always glad to help =). I didn't realize you got a green with it too, what a steal!

Just remember, most of us payed upwards of $500 for our yellow henes!

 

[H2Oxide]

Just remember, most of us payed upwards of $500 for our yellow henes!

And that's the reason I was almost certain I was never going to own one. But then this came along, and I figured it was worth a shot. it's also the reason I'm super careful with it. A lot of people will say that if you don't pay the full price, you don't have as much respect for it. Not the case here, I'm never letting this thing even touch the ground .

 

[Mattronium]

So you're the one who got those, now I wish I jumped on the opportunity... but then you wouldn't have gotten them.
Do the green and red HeNe's work also?

 

[H2Oxide]

Just checked, the green is broken, I can hear something rolling around inside. That'll be the second one in under 30 days. poor little fellas never even got a chance to lase . The red seems intact, I just have to get an adequate PS. And since there is practically no information about it online I'll just have to guess. Any info there would be helpful, the tube's model is JDS Uniphase 1135P.

 

[Mattronium]

Sam's Laser FAQ is place to look for LOTs of info for HeNe lasers. Sam's Laser FAQ - Commercial Unstabilized HeNe Lasers

Specs for your head from his site: 10 mW, 0.30 mR, 3.10 kV, 6.5 mA

 

[H2Oxide]

Thanks, I can't believe it never occurred to me to check there, I'm constantly going there anyway :thinking:. I think this supply is capable of that actually, 2400-3200 VDC and 5-7 mA IIRC.

 

[H2Oxide]

Hooray! I got the red one working. I never realized how orange 633 looks.
L to R: Quartz illuminated with red (pointer), 633 HeNe, 594 HeNe.

At first the red HeNe didn't lase, so I though it was broken, and was about to open it up when I noticed the shudder was closed XD.

 

[Sigurthr]

Ya I got mine from Dr. Sam, he is indeed quite awesome.

If you're not comfortable opening up the green's head and poking around lots of us experienced with HeNes can take a look for ya.

EDIT: just saw your pictures.... unless your camera is way off that doesn't look like 633 at all, it looks like 612!! Can you take a pic with normal room lighting of the dot?

 

[H2Oxide]

Sure, I'll go do that now and edit this post when I have 'em. This is my first red HeNe, so I can't tell if the wavelength looks different or not. And again, my iPhone's camera is really crappy, so it might not be picking it out correctly. (still looks pretty orange IRL though)

EDIT: Whelp, I tried but the beam just shows up as a massive blob of yellowy red that covers half the screen, and I don't think that would be very helpful. However, I have another red HeNe coming (what can I say, I've been bitten by the gas bug ) so I can tell you if there's a difference in a few days. Although the pictures don't look that far off from the real deal, It might just be my eyes, but it does look pretty orange.

EDIT 2: Well, apparently my goggles act as some sort of beam splitter, so I was able to get a really dim beam from the HeNe. Pic 1 is with normal lighting, pic 2 is with lights off.

laser on the left is a red pointer, right is HeNe. Also, regarding the Green HeNe, it's beyond repair, whatever is loose inside the tube is definetly glass, and I guess it "slides" rather than rolls. Wanna guess what it is?