Sam's Laser FAQ: Welcome Page (original) (raw)

DANGERDANGERDANGERDANGERDANGER

A Practical Guide to Lasers for Experimenters and Hobbyists

Version 19.80 (17-Oct-19))

Samuel M. Goldwasser
--- All Rights Reserved ---

For contact info, please see theSci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page.

Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning.
  2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying.

Sam's Laser FAQ Welcome Page

Sub-Table of Contents

Welcome to Sam's Laser FAQ!

This collection of documents, called "Sam's Laser FAQ", has a truly immense amount of practical information on a variety of laser related topics. If you are already familiar with its scope, purpose, and general organization, go directly to Sam's Laser FAQ Table of Contents. However, if this is your first visit - or you have been away for awhile - check out the summary and version update info below.
Sam's Laser FAQ provides a wealth of useful (not just textbook) information on many types of lasers of interest to the experimenter and hobbyist including:
* Basic laser principles, laser safety, general laser information, laser instruments and applications, laser and parts sources, laser discussion groups and newsgroups, and many references, and links. There is even a list of laser experiments and projects. (The descriptions are somewhat sparse at the moment but there are also links to other related Web sites.)
* Diode, Helium-Neon (HeNe), Argon/Krypton (Ar/Kr) Ion, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Helium-Cadmium (HeCd), and Pulsed and Diode Pumped Solid State (SS) laser characteristics, drive requirements, and power supply design considerations. Schematics for at least 25 diode laser drivers, 40 complete HeNe laser power supplies, 6 complete Ar/Kr ion laser power supplies, and 6 pulsed SS laser power supplies, as well as many other support circuits like regulators and modulators.
* Operation, internal construction (optical and electrical), adjustment, and repair of a variety of commercial lasers of all types including Coherent, Melles Griot, Spectra-Physics, Uniphase, and others. The detailed information on commercial stabilized HeNe lasers as well as specific diode pumped lasers including the Coherent 532 and Compass-M, Lightwave 120, 122, 125, 126, 142, and 221, Melles Griot 05-GSD-309, 05-BLD-605, and Uniphase uGreen, and more, cannot be obtained from any other publicly accessible source on-line or in print.
* Amateur laser construction (building lasers from raw materials rather than from laser components). Extensive material on getting started in this exciting and challenging pastime (often a great deal of time!) as well as complete descriptions - with diagrams - of the home-built lasers from the Scientific American "Amateur Scientist" columns (and the collection "Light and its Uses") and other sources.
Sam's Laser FAQ was developed to provide a unique resource for experimenters and hobbyists - as well as just plain old basement tinkerers. To the best of my knowledge, nothing as comprehensive has ever been available anywhere else in the explored universe (and almost certainly beyond).
If this was what you were looking for, your search is over! :-)

A Word About These Pages

Sam's Laser FAQ is declared to be a fluff-free zone! There will be no unnecessary, superfluous, or useless graphics of any kind - including but not limited to: dancing, gyrating, or other animated icons, colored textured backgrounds that are impossible to read through, or forced downloading of bit intense pictures that may be of no interest to you. Nor, will I ever expect you to use a particular brand of Web browser to be able to effectively access these pages. There are and never will be any advertisements, cookies, or other impositions on your time and space. In the time that it may take wading through a single monstrosity of the professional Web page designers at other sites, you will be able to find out what you want to know, when you want to know it! What a concept. :-) (Note, however, that your browser needs to be configured properly to make sense of the many ASCII diagrams, schematics, and tables. See the document: Suggested Browser Settings for font and other related information.)
In return for this gold mine of information, please make a serious effort to find the answers to your questions before contacting me. It may take just a wee bit of effort and could stress a few neurons in the process, but there is an excellent chance that what you seek is covered here. Should you be really stuck - or just want to discuss lasers, I will respond to email in a timely manner. However, if your questions indicate that you haven't even gotten past the Welcome Page, AND I am in a good mood, you will get a somewhat polite reply to read the appropriate chapter(s) of the FAQ. On the other hand, if it is a bad day, and you are really really lucky, you will probably be ignored. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy discussing lasers with laser enthusiasts and novices alike, and will be happy to do so at almost any hour of the day or night. However, if you're seeking some basic information, I would really really appreciate it if you do at least a bit of your homework first. In any case, if you do email me, I expect to be able to hit the reply key for my mail program and not get bounced email. I will not attempt to unjumble any anti-SPAM email addresses! I have posted over 20,000 articles to the USENET newsgroups using my true email address. And, you won't pick up SPAM via my private email anyhow. Even computer viruses avoid my address book since it's on a unix system!) Yes, SPAM is a pain but I tolerate the small amount I get resulting from postings so others will not be inconvenienced.
However, due to the increasing amount of SPAM via repairfaq.org email addresses, I have decided to require all initial email contact from the FAQs to be via the Feedback Form on theSci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page. (At some point my repairfaq.org email address will cease to function.) Any reply from me will have a valid email address to use for future correspondance. My apologies but I've already made so many millions from all those get rich quick schemes that I've run out of places to put it all. :)
Note: I NEVER send email attachments without prior contact. If you receive an unsolicited message supposedly from one of my addresses with any sort of attachment, it is bogus and possibly a virus - someone's address book includes my address and their computer is infected. Send me the complete headers and I'll attempt to check it or just hit the delete key.

A Somewhat Polite Gripe About Professional Web Sites

One of the most time consuming and annoying parts of maintaining the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ and Sam's Laser FAQ is attempting to keep the outside links up to date. Why does it seem that most professional Web site designers are programmed by their genes to rework the directory structure of their Web sites every 26 microseconds??? Isn't this totally counterproductive from a business point of view? Links that people have painstakingly set up stop working with "Error 404" or "Server not Found" and no hint of where they went or often if the company even still exists. So countless person millenia are wasted attempting to relocate them? How many just give up and take their business elsewhere? Does it really make sense to annoy your customers?
Granted, personal Web sites that move from one ISP to another due to lower costs or whatever may not have the luxury of being able to retain forwarding links. But businesses and organizations should not have this issue.
In all fairness, there are a few - but very few compared to what's out there - who do either provide direct forwarding links, or at least attempt to redirect to an appropriate Web page. However, the vast majority would seem to take the attitude that the Web site is there to show off the skills of the Web site designer, and not for the users of the information. But perhaps there may be some hope for it seems that the older a Web site is, the more likely it will be to maintain its structure in the future.

Under ideal conditions, Sam's Laser FAQ would be in a single file and your access to it would be via a 100 GB/s link. In a few years, such capabilities may appear primitive but for now, one can only dream of avoiding the World Wide Wait. :) Therefore, the organization of these pages ends up being a compromise. If you have the space, installing a local copy of Sam's Laser FAQ on a reasonably fast computer would be best (though you lose out on automatic updates). See: Sam's Laser FAQ Local Installation for details. The total size (V16.50) is approximately 141 MB (about 14 MB of text, the remainder graphics).
Sam's Laser FAQ is divided into chapters and sections. Except for the introductory material including the Table of Contents (ToC), each chapter is a separate file and has its own Sub-Table of Contents(Sub-ToC) Anything smaller than a chapter is called a section and has its own header and link from the chapter's Sub-ToC. Multiple sections may be grouped where they are related to one topic or related topics. For the most part, there are no nested text files. With one or two possible exceptions, the only files below the text files are those for diagrams and photos. To minimize download time, there are no in-line graphics anywhere except the Laser Equipment Gallery where relaxation is encouraged. :)
Links to return to the ToC are located at the beginning of every chapter and links to return to its Sub-ToC (top of page) are located at the end of the chapter as well as between major sections. There is also a link at the end of every chapter to the next chapter.
Hyperlinks within the text will either be to other chapters or sections of Sam's Laser FAQ (in which case they will generally be preceded with "chapter:" or "section:" as appropriate) or to other pages on this Web site or elsewhere. All local links have complete URLs including the filename so it is possible to tell if the link is to some other page (if the filename doesn't match the one currently being read).
All of Sam's Laser FAQ uses the very simplest HTML. This is partly because I have to maintain it and partly to avoid fluff. :) I have thought about adding a framed entry point which would include the ToC(s) down the left edge and would be interested in any opinions you may have on this and other formatting issues.
I realize that a fast search facility would be really nice. Eventually, I may have one (I refuse to use free search engines that impose advertising. They tend to be too slow anyhow.) In the meantime, realize that you can always use Ctrl-F in your browser to search any single document. The two special files: Sam's Laser FAQ Expanded ToC andSam's Laser FAQ Comprehensive Table of Contentsprovide a means of using this technique to find desired topics with a minimum of effort. You can also use the search engine on theDrexel S.E.R FAQ Mirror Site. However, if someone would offer to provide a fast non-commercial search engine that I can just drop in with near zero effort, please contact me me via theSci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page.

Sam's Laser FAQ Sites

Check out the Home and Mirror Site Locations page for a list of places to find Sam's Laser FAQ (as well as the complete Sci.Electronics.Repair (S.E.R) FAQ and Silicon Sam's Technology Resource (SSTR). There, you will also find Links to ZIP files with the latest version of the complete Sam's Laser FAQ and SSTR. Currently, the most up-to-date versions are at RepairFAQ.Org andUPenn. But for most practical purposes, even older versions are still 99.9% useful since much of the newest material is quite specific and related to the intricacies of lasers like the HP-5517FL. :)
I have collected a few ancient snapshots of Sam's Laser FAQ for pure amusement purposes. Go to Sam's Laser FAQ Archive.
We are always looking for contributions (of all types) in any and all laser related areas to expand the content of these sites.

Computer Resources for FAQ Development

Most of the text/html content for the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ and Sam's Laser FAQ is developed in emacs on a unix system via telnet/ssh. While some people may consider such an arrangement archaic, this allows for rapid creation and editing, accessibility to the original files from anywhere in the Universe via an Internet connection, less need to upload or download files to my PC, and professionally managed system maintenance, upgrades, and backup. Sounds like the newest Cloud services, huh? But I've been doing it that way for decades.
I currently have access to accounts at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Drexel University (though this one is temporarily unavailable), and a third site that I keep low key for private use. These are used to create, edit, and test the material in the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ and Sam's Laser FAQ. The primary account I use for FAQ development is at UPenn and this seems to be secure for the moment the situation can change from one year to the next. The Drexel computer is probably reliable as far as a long term relationship but for some reason, USENET access is limited and posting doesn't seem to work at all.
Therefore, while not critical for the near future, I am always looking for access to 1 or 2 additional unix or linux systems, preferably at academic institutions like colleges or universities, but I will also consider other types of not-for-profit organizations. For obvious reasons, I really do not want to do this in association with anything commercial. My needs are modest: 5 GB of disk space, telnet or ssh, ftp or sftp, emacs/gnus read/post, muttmail, and publicly accessible Web space. Most of what I do is editing and email so processing requirements are modest and shouldn't impact other activities. However, a reliable supported environment is critical to my sanity so your personal server farm isn't something of much interest. :)
I do not want and will not accept monetary contributions for this effort. But, a way to help the FAQ development would be to provide stable computer access. If you know of, or are able to offer such a resource, please contact me via the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page. However, I really only am interested in something that's likely to remain stable 10 years out, not an ancient PC running in the crawl space under your back porch. :) In return, of course, you get a local copy of the absolutely latest and greatest versions of the FAQs (and space permitting), all the associated ancillary material. And, of course, priority email replies to technical questions! Thank you! :)

Version Update Information

While there may be small updates as well as more substantial additions almost daily, when the number of revised and added bits reaches a critical (but random) threshold, the version number will change. Beyond a larger but also random threshold, an entry is added here to summarize the major enhancements that may be noteworthy, and the version number will increment by a large (also random) number. But, even if the version number doesn't change, the date of this page andSam's Laser FAQ Comprehensive Table of Contentswill always reflect the latest ZIP file archive. The ZIP file archive is updated whenever a file (like a .gif) is added to the Laser FAQ, or at some somewhat random interval, usually less than 1 week or month. If you aren't totally confused by now, send me email and explain what I just said so I will understand it. :) The bottom line is that just because the version of this file hasn't changed doesn't mean nothing is happening, only that I've been lazy about updating it! ;-) And even with a new version entry, there can be many many other additions not listed!
### What's New as of V19.80
* Detailed information on two of Renishaw's stabilized HeNe laser systems including descriptions, many inside photos, testing, repair, and interfacing is now available in the chapter: Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* Much more on single and two frequency lasers and specifically on HP/Agilent/Keysight lasers and home-built Zeeman lasers in the chapters: Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers and Home-Built Helium-Neon (HeNe) Laser.
* There are also many affiliated documents linked via the mainSam's Laser FAQ Page including manuals for the Micro Measurement Display (µMD1), Micro Stablized Laser Controller 1 (µSLC1); an article on a "A Laser Interferometer-Based Precision Measurement System", and more.
### What's New as of V19.60
* Extensive information on HeNe laser-based Ring Laser Gyroscopes (RLGs) including descriptions, evaluation, and tests of two Honeywell RLGs - the GG1342 and GG1320, as well as details on the construction of two home-built RLGs are provided in the chapter:Laser Instruments and Applications. In addition, there are dozens of photos of the GG1342 and GG1320 in theLaser Equipment Gallery under "Helium-Neon Ring Laser Gyros".
* Much more information on most common (and some not so common) types of stabilized HeNe lasers may be found in the chapter:Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
### What's New as of V16.50
* More on home-built stabilized HeNe lasers including the µSLC1 Arduino-based controller for one and two mode and axial and transverse Zeeman HeNe lasers in the chapter: Home-Built Helium-Neon (HeNe) Laser with a link to the µSLC1 controller manual.
* Micro Measurement Display 1 (µMD1) multi-channel microprocessor-based replacement for the HP-5508A display added to the chapter: Laser Instruments and Applications with a link to the µMD1 manual.
* Additional material in the Laser Equipment Gallery including the NIST I2 stabilized HeNe laser and Agilent Z4203P High Split Fiber Laser Source.
### What's New as of V14.50
* Information including description, analysis, photos, X-rays, and diagrams of HP/Agilent metrology lasers including the newest "Short" tube has been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* Information including photos of the SIOS SL-02 stabilized HeNe laser has been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* Information including photos and description of a few Russian and Far East HeNe lasers have been added to the chapter:Helium-Neon Lasers.
* X-ray views and some information on a variety of HeNe laser power supply bricks have been added to the chapter:Complete HeNe Laser Power Supply Schematics.
* Information including principles of operation and experiements with the unusual hemispherical confocal Scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer has been added to the chapter: Laser Instruments and Applications.
* There are now X-ray views of several popular HeNe laser power supply bricks in the chapter: Complete HeNe Laser Power Supply Schematics.
### What's New as of V13.00
* Information including photos of several more stabilized HeNe lasers including the Excel 1001A, Aerotech LSR2000, Frazier 100, Perkin Elmer 5800 has been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers and the Laser Equipment Gallery.
* Information including photos of the Laser Quantum GEM and IGNIS green and red DPSS lasers, Spectra-Physics Excelsior DPSS laser has been added to the chapter: Commercial SS Lasers.
* Additional Scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometers (SFPIs) have been added to the chapter: Laser Instruments and Applications.
### What's New as of V11.00
* Information including photos of several more stabilized HeNe lasers including the Excel 1001B, Nikon NKL-85, and Agilent 5517FL has been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers and the Laser Equipment Gallery.
* Information including photos of the B&W Tek 532-10-OEM green DPSS laser and Laser Export LCD-DTL-374QT Q-switched UV DPSS lasers has been added to the chapter: Commercial SS Lasers.
* Information including photos of the Spectra-Physics VSL-337i and OEM-337i nitrogen lasers has been added to the chapter:Home-Built Nitrogen (N2) Laser.
### What's New as of V10.00
* Information including photos of several more stabilized HeNe lasers including the Excel 1001F, Optra Optralite, Newport NL-1, and at least one more Teletrac 150 has been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers and the Laser Equipment Gallery.
* The Hewlett Packard/Agilent wing of theLaser Equipment Gallery has been expanded to include photos of all of their metrology lasers from the 5500A to the 5517E.
* Information including photos of the DPY425II medium power DPSS laser has been added to the chapter: Commercial SS Lasers.
* Information including photos of the SRS NL-100 nitrogen laser has been added to the chapter: Home-Built Nitrogen (N2) Laser.
### What's New as of V9.90
* The chapter on commercial HeNe lasers reached critical mass and has been split into chapters:
* Commercial Unstabilized HeNe Lasers. The common HeNe lasers most people care about used for alignment, barcode scanners, light shows, spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, etc.
* Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers. Single or two-frequency HeNe lasers used for interferometry, metrology, as a wavelength reference, etc. These are the lasers I get my jollies from. :)
* Much more on Hewlett Packard/Agilent metrology lasers has been added including photos of an original 5500A laser head with 5505A display that is fully functional after some 40 years. Many photos of the 5500A and 5500C laser heads have been added to theLaser Equipment Gallery.
* There are now high quaility scans of operation and service manuals for several discontinued HP laser metrology products. These include the 5501A and 5501B laser heads as well as complete 5526A and 5528A laser measurement systems (which include the 5500C and 5518A laser heads, respectively).
### What's New as of V9.80
* Much more on Hewlett Packard/Agilent metrology lasers has been added including photos of the bare laesr tube and laser tube guts, replacing the tube with one from a barcode scanner, and separate articles on evaluating used or rebuilt HP and Zygo metrology lasers. There is also a schematic of the optical receiver PCB used in the HP-5518A laser. See the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* Much more information and photos dealing with the Spectra-Physics 119 stabilized HeNe laser with the SP-259B exciter have been added to the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* There are now descriptions and photos of the Adlas DPY-315II laser system (the forrunner of the Coherent Compass-M lasers) and the Crystalaser GCL green DPSS lasers. Also, more on the JDSU uGreen and Nanolaser DPSS lasers. All in the chapter: Commercial SS Lasers.
* There are now descriptions and photos of the Novalux Protera VECSEL laser and Coherent D3 (Directly Doubled Diode) laser in the chapter:Diode Lasers.
### What's New as of V9.10
* Substantial information on Hewlett Packard/Agilent metrology lasers has been added including more detailed descriptions with photos, wavelength/frequency measurements, common problems with troubleshooting and repair techniques, and much more. See the chapter:Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* There are now very nearly complete schematics for the Spectra-Physics 117 and 117A (and the substantially identical Melles Griot 05-STP-901), Coherent 200, and Laboratory for Science 200 stabilized HeNe lasers in the chapter: Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
* Some information on the Spectra-Physics 119 stabilized HeNe laser is now included in the chapter: Commercial HeNe Lasers.
* Details on Zygo and Teletrac/Axsys stabilized lasers have been added to the chapter: Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers.
### What's New as of V8.75
* Every external link in Sam's Laser FAQ (and the other documents of the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ) has been checked. Most dead links have either been removed or corrected. A very few have been left in place with the hope that they were only dead temporarily. If one of your links has disappeared, contact me via the email link at the top of this page. Companies, large and small, that constantly reorganize their Web sites in such a way that links no longer work should be ashamed of themselves. :( :)
### What's New as of V8.50
* Additional information on stabilized HeNe lasers has been added including the Spectra-Physics 117C and Laboratory For Science Models 200 and 220 ultra stable HeNe lasers. See the chapter:Helium-Neon Lasers.
### What's New as of V8.25
* The chapter: Helium-Cadmium Lasers has been expanded to include more general information as well as details on Omnichrome/Melles Griot HeCd lasers.
### What's New as of V8.00
* Substantial information on stabilized helium-neon lasers has been adeed including both descriptions of the Spectra-Physics 117 and 117A, and the nearly identical Melles Griot 05-STP-901. In addition, several home-built stabilized HeNe lasers are described that have actually been constructed. See the chapters: Commercial Stabilized HeNe Lasers and Home-Built Helium-Neon (HeNe) Laser.
### What's New as of V7.75
* There is now substantial information on the operation and implementation of the Lightwave Electronics model 142 green DPSS laser based on a monolithic NonPlanar Ring Oscillator (NPRO) and external monolithic resonant doubler, as well as short sections on the Adlas 300 green DPSS laser and Uniphase Nanolasers. These are in the chapter:Commercial SS Lasers.
* Scans of older laser related catalogs, brochures, price lists, and other manufacturers' literature are being added toVintage Lasers and Accessories Brochures and Manuals Presently, this is mostly HeNe lasers but should grow to cover other types as time progresses.
### What's New as of V7.50
* Most portions of the chapter:Helium-Neon Lasers dealing with specific models has been moved toCommercial HeNe Lasers.
* Most portions of the chapter:Solid State Lasers dealing with specific models has been moved toCommercial SS Lasers.
* A wing has been added to theLaser Equipment Gallery on "Vintage HeNe Lasers".
### What's New as of V7.00
* Substantial information on Melles Griot high power DPSS lasers has been added to the chapters:Solid State Lasers andSS Laser Testing, Adjustment, Repair. This includes interior photos, pinouts for the laser heads and controllers, ways of modifying diode current and temperature setpoints, and common problems and repair. These is also some information on the Spectra-Physics ZLM laser head with T40 controller.
### What's New as of V6.60
* The information on specific solid state lasers has been greatly expanded especially for the Coherent C315M and addition of the JDS Uniphase uGreen in the chapters: Solid State Lasers andSS Laser Testing, Adjustment, Repair.
* The principles of the Scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer are discussed in the chapter: Laser Instruments and Applications along with ideas for building one of these normally expensive devices for next to nothing.
### What's New as of V6.40
* There are now two sets of high quality fully regulated low voltage DC inverter driven HeNe laser power supply designs including PCB layouts that can be replicated and easily modified for various size lasers. See "Sam's Modular HeNe Laser Power Supply 1" and "Sam's Modular HeNe Laser Power Supply 2" in the chapter: Complete HeNe Laser Power Supply Schematics.
### What's New as of V6.25
* There is much more information on vacuum systems and technology and as a result, this material has been given a chapter of its own:Vacuum Technology for Home-Built Gas Lasers. Additions include specific details on many Hastings thermocouple vacuum gauges and their testing, repair, and sensor cleaning; capacitance manometers, powering up a turbo pump, and more.
* Wiring information for the Cyonics/Uniphase 22XX and Spectra-Physics 16X lasers has been expanded in the chapter:Complete Ar/Kr Ion Laser Power Supply Schematics.
### What's New as of V6.10
* The chapter: Home-Built Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) Laser has been greatly expanded with additional diagrams, construction details, and parts suppliers.
* The Laser Equipment Gallery now has a large collection of photos on the Coherent Compass 315M and 532 green DPSS lasers. There is also detailed information on the internal wiring and drive requirements for the C315M laser in the chapter:Solid State Lasers.
* New information on vacuum systems for home-built lasers has been added to the chapter: Amateur Laser Construction. This includes more on rotary vane vacuum pumps and their maintenance, home-built thermocouple vacuum gauges, vacuum testing without a vacuum gauge, and sources for vacuum equipment and supplies.
### What's New as of V5.90
* There are now chapters on the Home-Built Pulsed Solid State (PSS) Laser (small but growing) and the Home-Built Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) Laser (which is quite well along).
* A link to the Center for Microwave and Lightwave Engineering (located in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA) has been added to the Table of Contents. CMLE is where I am actually doing some real laser work. :)
### What's New as of V5.60
* Sam's Laser FAQ now has its own Web domains:laserfaq.com,laserfaq.net, andlaserfaq.org. Going to one of these will redirect you to a Web site with a recent version of Sam's Laser FAQ. A German translation is also under development and will be available there and at laserfaq.de in the future.
* The chapters on solid state lasers have progressed significantly and there is now a separate one on Complete SS Laser Power Supply Schematics with complete systems suitable for driving the pulsed ruby and YAG laser heads common on the surplus market.
* A couple of really ancient versions of Sam's Laser FAQ and a link to another one have been collected at theSam's Laser FAQ Archive just to offer an idea of how this collection evolved. If nothing else, it beats counting sheep for insomnia. :)
* Copyright notices have been added to the start and end of all text files. I did this after finding bits and pieces of Sam's Laser FAQ at random Web sites around the World with no mention of origin or author and dead links to pages that might have had these attributions.
### What's New as of V5.35
* The chapters on Solid State Lasers andSS Laser Power Supplies have become more complete and this effort is still progressing. There is also the start of a chapter on SS Laser Testing, Adjustment, Repair.
* There is now a chapter on Laser Experiments and Projects. This is mostly just a list of suggested topics and links to a few laser project Web sites at the moment but should be filled in as time passes.
* This welcome page has gotten a little structure. :)
### What's New as of V5.20
* The chapters on Solid State Lasers andSS Laser Power Supplies have finally arrived (though they are somewhat sparsely filled in at present). Stay tuned. :)
* There are several sections in the chapters onHelium-Neon Lasers andHome-Built Helium-Neon Laser describing the use of HeNe laser tubes with one or two Brewster windows for the construction of external mirror HeNe lasers using readily available components.
* Schematics have been added for several new HeNe laser power supplies as well as a couple of argon ion laser heads (including the very common Cyonics/Uniphase 2214).
* The information on Helium-Cadmium Lasers has been consolidated into a chapter of its own.
* One of the new wings of the Laser Equipment Gallery presents the dissection of a green laser pointer based on diode pumped solid state frequency doubled technology. Don't miss out on all the exciting (and gory) details! :)
### What's New as of V5.00
* A new chapter on the Home-Built Pulsed Multiple Gas (PMG) Laser which is relatively easy to construct and may use argon, krypton, xenon, oxygen - maybe even plain ordinary air.
* Several new schematics including one of the Spectra-Physics 261A exciter which is used to power the SP-125 large frame helium-neon laser.
* A Portal to The Laser, Optics, and Holography Ring. This is an inter-navigable Webring of related sites.
* The paper: Micro-Laser Range Finder Development: Using the Monolithic Approach presents a system using a Nd:YAG laser and OPO which is pumped by the electronic flash unit from a single-use (disposable) pocket camera.
* Many new wings as well as expansion to existing wings in theLaser Equipment Gallery.
* A Link page to the CORD Lasers/Electro-Optics Series of On-Line Courses. (No longer valid.)
(Note: As of Summer, 2002, these courses have been removed from the CORD Web site supposedly due to the expiration of their funding. While the courses are available for purchase in print form, It's a pity that this has happened. Print is not the same as on-line, even if it were free. I am looking into hosting them on one of my Web sites but suspect that in the end, such a request will be denied due to commercial interests winning out over availability of information.)
### What's New as of V4.75
* The Comprehensive Table of Contents now provides Direct links to every chapter and section from one Web page.
* Several more ion laser schematics have been added including a couple of basic power supply designs that are easy to build as well as the circuit diagram of the quite common NEC GLG-3030 laser head.
* Several chapters including the one on home-built lasers (that was quite bloated) have been split to decrease loading times.
* Several new wings have been added to theLaser Equipment Gallery including one with photos of a Coherent 541 flowing gas CO2 laser - essentially a commercial version of the type of system that can be built by a determined amateur.
### What's New as of V4.40
* The Laser Equipment Gallery has been expanded to include photos of a large CW YAG laser, "BUGBLASTER SR", a larger HeNe laser, and some other miscellaneous laser bits. :-)
* The general organization of some material has been improved and Sub ToCs now provide links to all sections, not just major topic headings.
### What's New as of V4.25
* Diagrams for all seven types of Home-Built Lasers similar to those found in the Scientific American articles are now included in the chapters on amateur laser construction. The drawings show the basic structure and power supply for each laser assembly and should provide at least some of the overall flavor of what is involved in building these devices from scratch.
* The Laser Equipment Gallery provides a variety of Photos of Lasers and Laser Related Equipment inside and out. New wings will be added as material arrives.
Note that this extensive set of photos is in addition to all those found inSam's Laser FAQ. Due to the number of bits in these graphics files, the current FAQ distributions only include a page that provides links to sites where they are resident.
### What's New as of V4.00
* Argon and Krypton Ion Lasers are now covered in great detail providing the only known readily accessible detailed discussion of their characteristics and maintenance, as well as power supply requirements and system design considerations for these very desirable devices. There are even complete schematics for several different Ar/Kr ion laser power supplies!
* Two complete chapters provide extensive information on Amateur Laser Construction including material from the Scientific American collection "Light and its Uses" as well as the email, Web sites, articles, and experiences of those who have been successful in building their own lasers from scratch (not taking the easy way out and using commercial tubes or laser diodes!) and getting them to work - or have given it their best shot trying! Also included: basics of vacuum systems and glass working, where to get strange parts, the well equipped home laser lab, and much much more.
* A chapter on Carbon Dioxide Lasers is included as well.
* The text formatting has also been greatly improved including a complete Sub-Table of Contents for each chapter and intra-FAQ hot links that now work!