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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Lambda Ruby Laser Head

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Feb 2, 2012
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I saw this for sale on Ebay and jumped in as I have not seen one before. And going on the price I have seen for Nd-Yag heads this was a very good price.


I have ended up with the Head including the Ruby Rod, Flash Tube and Pump Chamber. This is a water cooled pump chamber. The water actually fully surrounds the Ruby Rod and Flash tube. In direct contact with both.

The Ruby Rod looks in perfect condition. The Flash tube installed shows some minor pitting on the Cathode. The chamber looks in very good condition.

The Ruby Rod and Flash tube are approx 95 mm in length. (Active Area).

Also supplied were 2 brand new flash tubes. Unopened in the original packaging.

3 Focus Mirrors in original packaging. I am not sure if these will be useful. Looking thru them they don't seem to have any noticeable focal length. They seem to be more like OC mirrors. But in the manual they are installed in the Hand piece and called focus mirrors.

Operation manual as well as a service manual. The service manual is pretty simple. No real details about the electronics in the unit.

Also supplied were a Pair of Lambda 694nm Glasses. Some fittings for the hand piece and about 6 glass tubes. I guess they were part of the hand piece.

The laser was built in 1994. Looking at the specs it was a pretty high power tattoo removal laser. It was a Q Switched laser which increases the Pulse power significantly and reduces pulse time.

The Specs for the beam are posted in one of the photos. At a 25 nS pulse it peaks with a 50 Mega Watt Pulse......


Now the hard part begins. I need the HR and OC Mirrors for a Ruby laser. They are getting pretty rare now. I have read on one of the Home Built laser sight that 1064 nm Mirrors can be used. Just not the full output power.

Building the driver for the flash tube wont be a problem for me. I just have to decide how much Energy to pump into the Tube and do the calcs I found in a document online. Voltage, Capacitance and Inductor calculations. I will look at the graph and based on the dimensions of the tube what the explosion energy is and keep under that. Although, being water cooled the explosion energy would be much higher.

The Manual does show the tube was run about 1200 Volts. But there is no indication what capacitor value was used. Maybe I will start off low and then increase it.

I don't expect much will happen for some time though. The Mirrors could take some time. I may just get some 1064 nm and see if they work.

Photos of what I have now.
 

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CurtisOliver

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Nice unit you have there. Best of luck getting it working. :beer:
You'll be piercing steel blades in no time. :p
 
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The Manual does show the tube was run about 1200 Volts. But there is no indication what capacitor value was used.

By "tube," I'm going to assume you mean the flash lamp. Obviously the eficiency varies wildly with pumping parameters, but google is telling me roughly 10%. The formula for capacitor stored energy is: Energy=CV²/2 Assuming you're discharging from 1200V to 0V (for simplicity):
1.2*10=C(1200)²/2
24/(1200)²=C
C=17µF

You'd probably need a lot more in practice (double, triple?), since you're winging it, but this is at least somewhere to start from.
 
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^ yes. I think mine has 2x 3" lamps in series, and it has a giant 2x 47uF 2800V bank in it if I remember correctly.
 
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Joined
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Messages
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By "tube," I'm going to assume you mean the flash lamp. Obviously the eficiency varies wildly with pumping parameters, but google is telling me roughly 10%. The formula for capacitor stored energy is: Energy=CV²/2 Assuming you're discharging from 1200V to 0V (for simplicity):
1.2*10=C(1200)²/2
24/(1200)²=C
C=17µF

You'd probably need a lot more in practice (double, triple?), since you're winging it, but this is at least somewhere to start from.


Tube as in Flash Tube. They are known by a couple of different names.

It won't output much power with only a 17 uF cap. That is only 12 Joules of energy at 1200 Volts. I will probably start off at 470 uF which will give me 338 Joules at 1200 Volts.

I can get some 470 uF 1200 VDC Polyester caps with an ESR of 2 milli Ohms.


A Xenon Tube with a 95mm Arc can easily do much higer than 338 Joules. And being water cooled it would be up around several thousand Joules.
 
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nice. I almost bought that. I really need the mirrors more than anything. I need a new output coupler for mine.

Before I purchased I asked the seller if the mirrors were available. Never got an answer.

The Mirrors are the hardest part to find now days. I am hoping the 1064nm Mirrors will be acceptable.
 
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Before I purchased I asked the seller if the mirrors were available. Never got an answer.

The Mirrors are the hardest part to find now days. I am hoping the 1064nm Mirrors will be acceptable.

With the size of your rod, a small optical flat will do. you won't need a full output coupler unless you want one. a fine glass window would even have enough power to get a beam with a sufficient lamp input, provided alignment is good enough. Mine has a pair of air-spaced windows and a prism for its reflectors...but I'm considering replacing the OC with a proper mirror if I can find one. A HeNe mirror may do in a pinch if it was wide enough.
 
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I keep seeing OC mirrors with different percentages for 1064 nm, as well as on that web site in the UK for ruby rods, but I don't know how to judge what percentage I should use.
 
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With the size of your rod, a small optical flat will do. you won't need a full output coupler unless you want one. a fine glass window would even have enough power to get a beam with a sufficient lamp input, provided alignment is good enough. Mine has a pair of air-spaced windows and a prism for its reflectors...but I'm considering replacing the OC with a proper mirror if I can find one. A HeNe mirror may do in a pinch if it was wide enough.


I did read that a normal piece of glass can be used for the OC Mirror. It would have enough reflectance to start stimulation. Ruby doesn't need much reflected back. I have considered HeNe mirrors but the diameter of HeNe mirrors is usualy a bit to small.

I have ordered some 20mm 1064nm OC and HR mirrors as well as adjustable mounts for them. I will have a 15% and a 30% OC as long as they work at 694 nm.

I need to check out the Focus mirrors supplied with this stuff. They are coated for 694nm. I looked thru them and they appear to be straight glass. I did not see any magnification in them. They may even work as the OC mirror.

I will also setup the water cooling for this head. Just use a PC water cooling Pump and Radiator. I have left overs from when I fully water cooled my Gaming PC. I prob don't need the water cooling but I don't know how far I will push the Flash Tube. I have 2 Brand new tubes and the one already in the chamber. It wont matter if I kill one by pushing it to far :)
 
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Nice this laser ....!
Is it perfectly working? or do you have to fix it?


The seller claimed the chamber was working. And it looks fine to me. The Ruby Rod looks in perfect condition. Crystal clear looking thru it and not one mark anyware on the Rod.


Apparently it was electronics failure in the unit. Not the Head. It wasn't worth getting repaired and the owner was retiring anyway. She was the original purchaser.


I will have to build a Pulse circuit for the Flash Tube. But that is pretty straight forward. Just very high voltages.... And thanks to documents on the net the Calcs are easy. As well as Mirrors, Mirror mounts and a Cooling loop.
 
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The seller claimed the chamber was working. And it looks fine to me. The Ruby Rod looks in perfect condition. Crystal clear looking thru it and not one mark anyware on the Rod.


Apparently it was electronics failure in the unit. Not the Head. It wasn't worth getting repaired and the owner was retiring anyway. She was the original purchaser.


I will have to build a Pulse circuit for the Flash Tube. But that is pretty straight forward. Just very high voltages.... And thanks to documents on the net the Calcs are easy. As well as Mirrors, Mirror mounts and a Cooling loop.



Understand .... well then good work and I can not wait to see photos with the running laser!
 
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I did read that a normal piece of glass can be used for the OC Mirror. It would have enough reflectance to start stimulation. Ruby doesn't need much reflected back. I have considered HeNe mirrors but the diameter of HeNe mirrors is usualy a bit to small.

I have ordered some 20mm 1064nm OC and HR mirrors as well as adjustable mounts for them. I will have a 15% and a 30% OC as long as they work at 694 nm.

I need to check out the Focus mirrors supplied with this stuff. They are coated for 694nm. I looked thru them and they appear to be straight glass. I did not see any magnification in them. They may even work as the OC mirror.

I will also setup the water cooling for this head. Just use a PC water cooling Pump and Radiator. I have left overs from when I fully water cooled my Gaming PC. I prob don't need the water cooling but I don't know how far I will push the Flash Tube. I have 2 Brand new tubes and the one already in the chamber. It wont matter if I kill one by pushing it to far :)

Yes it will, as the glass will potentially damage the rod unless it is contained in a flow tube or something. Also, no you shouldn't see any magnification through the reflectors. Generally these types of lasers are usually Planar-Planar, and if needed use thermal lensing to their advantage if it is present.

Many high reliability ruby lasers were early enough, and good mirrors were crazy expensive enough that many just used a turnaround prism as the HR and a glass or sapphire plate (or series of plates) to act as an OC, as then there'd be no coating to damage over time from the high power involved. The easiest one I ever made just had a silvered mirror on one end, and a glass plate on the other for the mirrors and used a single lamp. They're pretty basic aside from the electronics unless you add a q-switch-as then you need the pulse to be in time with when the cavity is aligned.

Understand .... well then good work and I can not wait to see photos with the running laser!

Definitely.

Edit: PS- remember to wear gloves if you open the chamber. don't let any dust inside and dont get any fingerprints on the rod, or lamps, or the mirrors. It will cause uneven cooling and can shatter the rod/lamp.
 
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Joined
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Messages
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Yes it will, as the glass will potentially damage the rod unless it is contained in a flow tube or something. Also, no you shouldn't see any magnification through the reflectors. Generally these types of lasers are usually Planar-Planar, and if needed use thermal lensing to their advantage if it is present.

Many high reliability ruby lasers were early enough, and good mirrors were crazy expensive enough that many just used a turnaround prism as the HR and a glass or sapphire plate (or series of plates) to act as an OC, as then there'd be no coating to damage over time from the high power involved. The easiest one I ever made just had a silvered mirror on one end, and a glass plate on the other for the mirrors and used a single lamp. They're pretty basic aside from the electronics unless you add a q-switch-as then you need the pulse to be in time with when the cavity is aligned.



Definitely.

Edit: PS- remember to wear gloves if you open the chamber. don't let any dust inside and dont get any fingerprints on the rod, or lamps, or the mirrors. It will cause uneven cooling and can shatter the rod/lamp.

Thanks for the advice.

They are called focus lenses that came with it. Not reflectors. They are installed in the tube of the tattoo removal handpiece.

No doubt this will take time and learning before i get a large pulse. I will start off small and work up. I have thought about a way to Q-Switch it. The timing would be trial and error.

Not sure if Q-switching will make much difference for punching holes thru razors. All it does is compress the pulse into a higher power but shorter pulse. The total amount of energy is unchanged. If i understand it correctly.
 
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Thanks for the advice.

They are called focus lenses that came with it. Not reflectors. They are installed in the tube of the tattoo removal handpiece.

No doubt this will take time and learning before i get a large pulse. I will start off small and work up. I have thought about a way to Q-Switch it. The timing would be trial and error.

Not sure if Q-switching will make much difference for punching holes thru razors. All it does is compress the pulse into a higher power but shorter pulse. The total amount of energy is unchanged. If i understand it correctly.

The difference is night and day. You actually get more power sometimes without the switch but over a much longer period of time, and it will be less consistant power wise. (you get the whole flourecense life vs a tiny part of it, but light is flowing freely) where as with the switch it will be a higher and consistant repetition of pulses, but in a much shorter period of time resulting in more energy overall during the time that it is emitting (waiting for the rod to be fully saturated and dumping it all at once at the peak only). for example maybe a few joules over 3ms, vs maybe 1.2J but over 25-30ns. Mine is a 3" rod a few mm across and does about 200mJ in 35ns or so. that prism is hauling ass when it is spinning...mine is from the 70s and is mechanical rather than a modern electro-optical one. It basically just is a prism on a very high accuracy rotation motor. feed it like 12V or something and it spins at I think 40,000 rpm +/- maybe 1 or 2 thousand rpm's per second. very high accuracy and reliability. It has a small magnetic pickup on the shaft that a sensor picks up and then has a small electronic delay to trigger the lamps in time with the position of the prism.

as for the focusing optics, who knows. i dont have them so im not sure, but if its out of tattoo removal, it was likely fiber coupled, and they may just be plates that were adjusted to fine tune how much of the beam was focused into the fiber at any given time. it's hard to say.
 
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