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Really, Really big Dye Laser






Watching now! Been waiting for the video since you started the thread over on PL weeks ago! :D
 
Interesting video. Nice plug for the table manufacturers, too. Would have loved to see the color of the beam, but at the short pulse length, it might not be doable. I found your explanations of why you dump your dye compelling, and the way in which you recycle it very good as well. Thanks for sharing it here. + rep
 
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That kind of laser is really not my cup of tea, #1 because there is no visibly beautiful beam and #2 It's just pulses of laser, Don't get me wrong it's got insane power and dot shape BUT power isn't everything and you can't see the beam so the great dot shape really doesn't mater, Well to me anyways.....
 
Accutronitis said:
That kind of laser is really not my cup of tea, #1 because there is no visibly beautiful beam and #2 It's just pulses of laser, Don't get me wrong it's got insane power and dot shape BUT power isn't everything and you can't see the beam so the great dot shape really doesn't mater, Well to me anyways.....
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It's 580nm, so it is visible, would be a nice yellow. The pulse is so short that it's difficult to capture on video, plus the absolute need for safety glasses with these sorts of powers. You wouldn't want to take those safety glasses off to see the spot or the beam for the brief fraction of a second that it'd be there. At these powers it should still be visible even with the short pulse duration (someone correct me if I'm wrong?). Not to mention it's just an impressive piece of engineering, especially for a DIY job!

You'd be able to capture a beam shot with a half decent camera and the proper triggering.

Planters, thanks for sharing! Very interesting as always, looking forward to more. :)
 
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diachi said:
It's 580nm, so it is visible, would be a nice yellow. The pulse is so short that it's difficult to capture on video, plus the absolute need for safety glasses with these sorts of powers. You wouldn't want to take those safety glasses off to see the spot or the beam for the brief fraction of a second that it'd be there. At these powers it should still be visible even with the short pulse duration (someone correct me if I'm wrong?). Not to mention it's just an impressive piece of engineering, especially for a DIY job!

You'd be able to capture a beam shot with a half decent camera and the proper triggering.

Planters, thanks for sharing! Very interesting as always, looking forward to more. :)
Click to expand...

Now, you wouldn't want to take those glasses off simply due to the amount of power that it could fry your eyes with indirect exposure? :eek:

Great video planters :)

-Alex
 
Planters, that is a very impressive project, thank you for sharing with us! :beer:
At first, I didn't think I'd watch the whole video, but you find yourself drawn into it, and before you know it, it's over, and you're looking for more!
:gj: +rep, well done!
 
Wow! That an awesome piece of work. Looking forward to your next videos. That's just scary. Don't blame your camera man for jumping. And that only 25% and it made mincemeat out of a ceramic plate. Can't wait to see what it can do at 100%. Thanks for sharing :)
 
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As I posted on PL, the INPUT power is at 25% (10 kV), but the OUTPUT is far from linear. It is more like 10%. The beam is extremely visible and the duration has no effect on that other than to make it seem brighter rather than dimmer. One microsecond and 10 msec looks identical to the eye and so the comparison is pertinent to a DJ strobe light. Compare the visibility of a 100W continuous lamp to a 100J, 1pps strobe. Camera protection requires the filter at close range, but not at far range. This laser has been sent 1 km to the base of a cloud deck...its pretty visible. I will show that.

I don't mean to advertise the suppliers and some of the companies I mention, but rather to give the actual sources of what I have found to be useful. I have owned Cynosure lasers, but not Candela lasers despite my comparison.

Now, you wouldn't want to take those glasses off simply due to the amount of power that it could fry your eyes with indirect exposure?
Click to expand...

That's right. The filters that you see the tests through block all the laser light. The flash you see is not some of the laser light, it is the incandescent glow from the plasma ablated off the targets.
 
Awesome monster, love it. Thank you for taking the time to share this project as well as the many others you have done. I have been wondering how the eye reacts to short ns pulses compared to ms, until now I haven't found that information. I've been interested in Q switching a ND:YAG using passive optics, but unable to find high power passive Q-Switch glass yet which can take hundreds of mJ to a full Joule.
 
This project is awesome. So many hours and money had to be spent for it. Such an enthusiasm! The laser itself is great. I started to like it a lot when you moved to description of pressurized oxygen tank.
Many thanks for sharing such a great work.

What about showing internals in next video?

Finally I found someone who I can rep (as I need to spread more to rep again), well deserved rep+.
 
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Planters, the video description mentions 50J pulses, that's what you demonstrated in the video at 25% input power, correct? If I understood that last part correctly, that means you'll may be well over 100J per pulse once you figure out the damage issues with the optics?

Wonder if Laserbuilder has seen this thread yet, from his build/demonstration threads this looks like something he'd appreciate!

Truly fascinating, wish I had the space/time/tools/funds to experiment with such things. Maybe one day.
 
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Really cool! Dye lasers are my absolute favorite. :yh:

I have a few questions though:

1) What's the pulse length? If you mentioned it in the video I didn't catch it.

2) I've heard that some of the triplet quenchers smell awful and that it's nearly impossible to get the smell out of a room once they've been used. Is this true for COT? I know that cyclopentadiene has a rather strong and unpleasant odor.

3) What is the dye you're using? You said it was a rhodamine in the video, and judging by the color I'm going to guess it's 6G/590. Assuming that's true, is it the Cl-, ClO4-, or BF4- derivative?

4) And last but not least, what do you plan on doing with such a behemoth? Nuclear fusion? Isotope separation? :crackup:
 
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I will be showing the internals in detail in the following videos.

The output is 50J...now. I have produced around 100J...once or twice, then the optics fail. I'll show the lens from one of these big shots. That occurred at 12kV charging voltage. The highest output ever generated by a dye laser was 400J, a few times by some Russian researchers over 30 years ago. The beam specs were terrible.

The pulse length is 20usec at half height.

COT smells. It is similar to the smell of some adhesives used in shoe manufacturing. It does not persist at all. Once the container is sealed and if a carbon filter is used, as I do, there is no detectable aroma. Frankly, I kinda like the smell. I know I'm in a small minority, but I also like the smell of paper money and jet-A fuel.:takeit:

I am using RG 590 chloride. This is less expensive and the major reason for choosing the other salts is their compatibility with some solvents. I use MeOH/H2O at a 25/75 ratio for the best balance of power and divergence.

Future plans? I am also working on a VERY large drone which will also be covered in upcoming videos. I'll leave the relevance to you.

The videos will be coming much more frequently now that one of my fellow geeks (the camera man in this video) is back from school.
 
Fantastic work! Looking forward to the video of it hitting the clouds.
 
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