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FrozenGate by Avery

my dye laser project [ pic heavy ]

That's quite a big project you're starting, but definately interesting! What kind of pump laser do you have? You'll probably need a few watts to get above threshold. Does this laser use a dye jet or a cuvette?

Be careful with the dyes and their solutions, they can be quite toxic. Probably the main reason why I don't plan to get my dye laser running.
 





Why do they use an argon to pump it at 514 and not a frequency doubled dpss?

Also, pics show a cuvette, right?
 
Bluefan said:
That's quite a big project you're starting, but definately interesting! What kind of pump laser do you have? You'll probably need a few watts to get above threshold. Does this laser use a dye jet or a cuvette?

Be careful with the dyes and their solutions, they can be quite toxic. Probably the main reason why I don't plan to get my dye laser running.
Click to expand...

I will be using a 0.5W DPSS, not ideal but it will do for now (it's all i can afford). I will likely end up selling it and getting a higher power.

methanol - http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927227

ethylene glycol - http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927167

rhodamine 6g - http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927579

yeah, all around nasty stuff.

cb7613eb.jpg


BShanahan14rulz said:
Why do they use an argon to pump it at 514 and not a frequency doubled dpss?

Also, pics show a cuvette, right?
Click to expand...

This laser is 22 years old, DPSS was significantly less feasible then.
 
A quick update:

I got my pump laser last Friday.

38092520.jpg


It's a 750mW, however the beam isn't perfect. The coherent rep i talked to said i could expect ~5% efficiency which is piss poor. I will probably end up selling it and getting a laser with some better beam specs down the road.

7651f5ff.jpg


^my labby with some of Ash's portables
 
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Not a bad looking beam shot though. Just not tem00. Someone will take it off your hands.
 
Beam quality is very important, with a good beam the efficiency will be far higher. But apparently dye laser also can have with a rather low threshold:
IEEE Xplore - Sign In
If diodes can pump one a mostly TEM00 DPSS will do even better. Of course not all dye lasers are created equal.
 
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This all looks like a lot of fun! I'v always been curious how these really worked....looking forward to a video. I'm also surprised that they are pumped by an Argon, for some reason I thought they would be pumped by a nitrogen laser.

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more!
 
For CW use they can be pumped by an argon laser or a 532nm DPSS. Pulsed dye lasers can be pumped by a flashlamp, nitrogen laser, doubled or tripled YAG. Lots of choices.
 
Another update:

I took some power graphs

first 15 minutes:

532nm_lab.jpg


A 10 minute graph after it had been on for some time:

graph_1.jpg


After some warm up it does appear to be TEM00 though it has a parallel beam.
 
A quick update:

I made my first attempt at running the laser.

I poured 750ml of ethylene glycol into the reservoir. After that, the reservoir promptly emptied all over the garage floor.:banghead:

ff5fb7f0.jpg


That part connects the reservoir to the pump motor. It was damaged in shipping and was just sitting in the pump socket.

I'll make a second attempt when the replacement parts arrive.
 
Careful if you have any animals (pets) near by. EG tastes and smells sweet but is toxic unlike it's cousin propylene glycol.
 
Thats a bummer, i hope you can get it all buttoned up, id love to see what this unit is capable of.
 
I got the needed parts in the mail today.

a0c33b13.jpg


Here is where the connector snapped.

838ecbfa.jpg


I got the new hose in place.

5a2540ef.jpg


And finally moved the utility module to better accommodate any unforeseen complications.

fa2b221a.jpg


I'm getting more gloves tomorrow, then I'll make attempt #2.
 
I have achieved yellow light!

Unfortunately this thing would still be more effective as a sieve and no lasing to report yet.

629b018e.jpg
 
How did you align the green laser? It should overlap with the cavity mode which requires a good and stable alignment.
 
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