Nd:YAG Rod flourescense...???

[xanatos]

That fat NdYAG rod I have is doing something odd...

I switched most of the lights in my house and office over to those mini-flourescent "softie-cone" bulbs a year or two ago, but in my office where I need a LOT of light, I still have incandescent track lights.

Today, I brought the rod, normally a deep purple color, near one of the mini-flourescent lights - and it was no longer purple - it was TEAL! Not just a tint - a very strong teal color!

Now I know this has something to do with flourescense in the rod - but what exactly is happening with the output spectrum of the mini-F's that is making the teal color so strong in the rod?

Fascinating....

Thanks for the info,

Dave

 

[MarioMaster]

try getting a pic, i'd like to see this

 

[disma]

wow! ya, lets see it!! I never noticed mine doing that...

Max

 

[xanatos]

OK... here's a composite shot - rod under light at one end, sunlit at the other; teal end under mini-f; purple end with sunlight.

Let the speculation/explanation for the color variance begin!

 

[xanatos]

Just wondering while I'm at it - could it be that there is NO purple in the output spectrum of the lamp, hence only the remaining component colors are visible in the rod - or is this flourescence?

 

[xanatos]

No takers on this, eh?

 

[a_pyro_is]

Sorry man, I can't help you on that. What I do know is that I want to see that rod laseing! I wonder, how many Gilettes would that thing be?

 

[xanatos]

From the research I've done so far, I believe I could pop a stack of gilettes about half an inch thick if I had this thing cooled properly and pumped to capacity with a good Qswitch arrangement.

<offtopic>BTW, did you know that gilettes, stacked and bolted together, and placed edge-on into a beam, make a great beam dump to absorb high power outputs? </offtopic>

 

[a_pyro_is]

That's what I hear...I assume it just makes a really good heatsink. Not sure if that's why it works or not.

 

[xanatos]

I think it's all the small reflective angles formed by the blade edge bevel - reflects the beam a gazillion times before it actually hits the point of no reflection...

 

[Krutz]

would guess its *missing* wavelengths in the tube as well. yag seems to be popular among jewellers too, its hard, anc changes colors, as you observed. dont remember if its the yag or the dopand nd there.
would like to get some lasercrystals, especially that colorchanging stuff (like alexandrite, real gemstone, much more expensive than diamond), to make some beautiful, and still really geeky jewellery!

oh, what happens with that rod in UV/blacklight? as i remember, neodynium has many and quite broad "pump" or absorbing wavelengths..

manuel