For those of us who are uninitiated, can you explain the numbers of lines available, how many are available, and what limits the number of lines you can produce?
From Speedy thread by pschlosser:
Argon Ion lasers are capable of outputting several wavelengths of light. Up to 10, in the visible range, if I recall correctly. As you may already know, Helium Neon lasers are also capable of lasing at different wavelengths, such as red, orange, yellow, and green.
What differs between a HeNe of one color and one of a different color are the mirrors. In a HeNe, it's the mirrors tuned for a specific color that decide what color it will output. HeNes are typically tuned to only one color at a time because their output is so limited. I think a multi-line HeNe is possible, but I've never heard of one.
Argons, on the other hand, are powerful enough to output multiple lines (or colors) simultaneously, but only if the mirrors (or optics) are configured for multi-line. There are many Argons tuned to only one color, in order to squeeze out more output at that color. When shopping for an Argon Ion laser, if multi-line is important to you, be sure to look for that, because many are single-line lasers.
I should also note that Krypton Ion and Helium Cadmium lasers are, among others, ones that can also output multiple lines simultaneously. Some Kryptons are single-line, but tunable, using an internal prism. By rotating a prism, internally, one controls which line of the spectrum hits the mirror and is bounced back in for amplification.
And in case you're not aware, an Argon-Krypton mixture is capable of combining the colors from both gasses, and can yield a white light, or one that can be modulated as RGB.
There are other gases and colors, but those are far less common than the ones mentioned.
Now I know what the big deal is all about. The pictures never do it justice. The head has only 50 or so hours on it as per seller I still need to open it up. It does 5 lines at idle 4 amps and 6 lines at 8 amps. Well here's some pictures for now.
What do think is the max amps for this tube? I do get 6 lines at 6 amps so no need to go ant higher. Maybe I would get more lines with a better grating?
