Pumping a Ruby Rod

[Alaskan]

Oops, I turned that around somehow. You are right, this might be a pinkish pulse ND YAG, I'd ask the seller what wavelength the unit is, or for more information to be sure what it is.

 

[diachi]

Whitish if pulsed, pinkish if CW, I thought.

Nope, other way IIRC.

It's dark enough to be ruby anyway.

 

[Alaskan]

You are always quoting me bud, I can't even get a minute to fix my post! But yes, I see now. I had it backwards. Funny thing is, I corrected Cyparagon on this very thing last year telling him CW were whitish when he had it backwards

 

[diachi]

You are always quoting me bud, I can't even get a minute to fix my post! But yes, I see now. I had it backwards. Funny thing is, I corrected Cyparagon on this very thing last year telling him CW were whitish when he had it backwards

Haha, I refresh the page fairly often to check for new posts. Maybe I'll slow down a little bit. :thinking: :crackup:

 

[Alaskan]

I should have fact checked myself. But I really don't trust that ebay listing, if the guy knows what he has that's one thing, but if he is fairly clueless he might look at a pink ND YAG rod and think it's a ruby rod.

Here's a photo of a EKSMA ND:YAG rod, very pink

However, here's a ruby rod looking pinker than I imagined they can be:

Here's the first laser made, that ruby doesn't look very ruby colored to me, but upon further thought, it's the material they refer to, not the color. By the color, I'd call it a bubble gum laser, except the color it puts out isn't that shade, it's ruby!

 

[TCWilliamson]

I've got a ruby rod here too, it seems in pretty good nic, only a few tiny chips in the edges of the ends.

I came across this site, they have quite a lot of parts for Ruby Lasers, including a bucketload of mirrors:


Laser Sources Ltd - Ruby laser line optics. 694nm. Output couplers, rear mirrors, turning mirrors, 694nm AR coated lenses and windows. Filter glass for Ruby laser pumping chamber

Admittedly, I have no clue where to even start for making my own, but I got enough capacitors to detonate a warhead here.

 

[Alaskan]

Thank you for the link, just what I needed too. I have a few rods but no mirrors.

Edit, found this response in my email just now:

Re ebay ruby laser head



Great laser flash pumping info here: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Laser_pumping

 

[Peter Zeboroff]

Hi, My name is Peter Zeboroff and Iv am trying to gather all the parts need to build a Ruby Laser. So far I have the Ruby Rod which is 240mm long and 15mm in diameter but I am having a great deal of difficulty locating the Cavity Mirrors. If there is someone on here that is able to help me in finding the correct Cavity mirrors as well as in other areas of design in this Laser please email me. Thank you for anyone here that is willing to help me.

 

[Anthony P]

I read that Edmund Optics now has the ability to custom polish and coat crystal ends which would eliminate the need for external mirrors.

 

[Peter Zeboroff]

I read that Edmund Optics now has the ability to custom polish and coat crystal ends which would eliminate the need for external mirrors.

Hi, Thank you for your suggestion,however Edmunds was one of the seemingly endless companies that I have already contacted and they told me that they specifically dont make optics for Ruby lasers and he gave me a very long laundry list of companies(mainly in China) that apparently do but the majority of them dont believe in replying and the couple that did,one will sell me just the output coupler for $1400.00 U.S. plus shipping and the other was $2300.00U.S. for just one mirror and then there are complete bullshit companies such as Thorlabs that will make me a proper set of mirrors and they only want $5600.00 U.S. each mirror. I would have thought that the Ruby Rods would have been the nearly impossible and cost prohibitive laser component to get but I can practically buy a truck load of all sorts of Ruby Rods for next to nothing but these dam Mirrors are stupidly expensive and almost impossible to find, at least on the used market.

 

[LSRFAQ]

Krypton Laser dual line OC for the red lines... Will have enough reflectivity to get you going. I just happen to have a box of them.

Steve

 

[Commander J. Bloodmaker]

I have read quite a bit in a few months after getting the Ruby Rod. The maths is way out of my league.

There doesnt seem to be a simple answer

I might just order some high power 405nm 10 watt LED's and see what happens. Violet is double the price of Green. But 550nm LED's are not easily available. I will aim for about a 600 Watt pulse at 405nm and hopefully something will happen. It will be pretty easy to drive the LED's with a pulser.

I have read about the CW Ruby Rod laser but it seems like it never made it into a commercial product.

Maybe try cooling some 405nm laser diodes with pelters to get it to drift closer to 400nm. Idk if it would work, but sounds better than some leds. I dont think the leds will output enough to actually cause it to lase. You need some massive dumps to get that rod to lase.

 

[Peter Zeboroff]

Krypton Laser dual line OC for the red lines... Will have enough reflectivity to get you going. I just happen to have a box of them.

Steve

Hi Steve, are you absolutely positive they will work as in did you actually try the kryton mirrors in a Ruby Laser configuaration and of course are you selling any of those mirrors?

 

[LSRFAQ]

Well. I can check them in transmission in a spectrometer and give you the numbers on %T. Pick a long radius for the OC and a near flat for the HR.

Steve

 

[Peter Zeboroff]

Hi Steve,I dont understand what you are referring too by long radius and near flat,as stated elsewhere on this site,I am extremely good in the electronics and the physical construction of lasers but when it comes to all the fairly high level physics involved with lasers and Ruby Lasers spefically,I am completely out of my field of expertise which is why I posted a add on here asking for help which I would never have done if I knew all this physics myself.I have been reading articles on here since it first started in I think around 2005-2006 and since then I have found some very useful information and came across some very knowledgeable people but I have also came across a few that shouldnt be allowed to own a flashlight much less give any kind of useful or even usable information about anything.I am not made of money like some of the guys on here and I cant afford to get into purchasing endless amounts of various optics and other components in experimenting and hoping that when its all built,the thing will actually work. I need to know for a certain fact that if I buy a part,any part for this,that when its all built,and I push the flashtube igniter buton, I will get the high power pulse I have wanted for close to 60 years. I dont have the time,nor the patience to sit and look at that expensive pile of parts and wonder,where did I go wrong?I met some guy on here some time back who not only built yag lasers I believe but offered to help anyone else wanting to build a pulse laser such as this and I dont think it was you but if you know who I am thinking about please either direst me to him or let him know I need assistance. Thank you.