Hi, I too am a laser experimenter and have been building various lasers fore close to 60 years now. I too am in the process of building a laser very similar to yours except that I want to try and use the combined output of several hundred blue high power light emitting diodes surrounding the Ruby Rod in a more traditional optical cavity setup but just use the blue leds instead of the flash tubes. I have several various size Ruby Rods and I will also be building a considerably more powerful traditional Ruby Laser using a 240mm long by 15mm in diameter rod and 2- 8500 joule flash lamps. I am very glad to see projects like yours since I was interested in Ruby Lasers for almost 60 years now but there are very few people at least on you tube doing these kinds of projects. I wish many more people were into this kind of experimenting and building such powerful devices at home. I hope you continue to build on your project. I will continue to follow your progress.
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
Hi Peter! I can only repeat back what you have said: It would be really cool if more people were interested in building these kinds of lasers. Please, do keep me updated about your project(s)! I have read a few comments that pumping Ruby with LEDs is very problematic but this makes it even more interesting. Furthermore, I am actually also in the process of making a pulsed laser. It will, however, be a Nd:Yag Laser, but a pulsed ruby setup is planned. May I ask where you get your flashlamps and the ruby outcoupling mirror? Finding especially the latter has been a real challenge to me. Thanks for your comment! -Nik
@peterzeboroff7448
2 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry Hi Came across a guy through the laser pointer forums who had some sources of where to find these high powered flash lamps and the mirrors and I think the company was in Great Britain but i am not absolutely possible since this was several years ago. That place also had a huge assortment of Ruby Rods of all sizes and configurations but the rods were already all sold out. Unfortunately Ruby Lasers are gradually being phased out of industry and eventually they will probably just dissappear. I too have been looking for the proper Ruby Mirrors for several decades and I found that they are extremely rare and when they do come up on the used market, they are very expensive and are sold almost the moment they are listed. I even asked Thor labs if hey had proper Ruby Laser mirrors and they are able to make a couple if someone is rich enough to buy them. For a 25mm in diameter di electric mirror, they want $5000.00 U.S. each for the totally reflecting mirror and $7000.00U.S. for the output coupler plus they wont sell them to ordinary citizens because they are considered to be a component of a high energy potential device. I have come across the odd mirrors on Ebay but those are mostly mis labeled and of very poor quality and generally not worth the amount being charged for them. It cost me almost $2000.00 U.S. for 2 complete new sets of the proper, high energy di electric mirrors Although the mirrors I acquired are supposedly rated for over 700 megawatt pulses, a very experienced laser physicist I have known for over 50 years has told me that even these mirrors which are not even made from optical glass but from a special sapphire mixed with other compounds will still gradually get eaten away and eventually disintegrate, especially the di electric coatings will only take a certain number of shots. Although this wont be for quite some time yet but eventually when I get this laser more together, the Rod will probably be cooled with liquid nitrogen and I still have the entire Q switch setup to look into. At this point in time, I have no way of knowing just how far I can go building this at home but my ultimate goal is to produce ultra high power short pulses of at least 100 megawatt each pulse. I have been asked several times why I pick Ruby and not the much more efficient yag variants and the answer is easy. I have built many fairly high powered lasers and they have always been in the visible since seeing the laser light and what it looks like going through various crystals and even shooting across the sky like a shooting star is half the attraction for me and always has been and the other half of course is the actual construction of the device. A laser that has a billion watt output but is in the infrared, is completely useless to me. I would rather have a 1 watt visible any day over a 100,000 watt infrared laser. I have come across several very knowledgeable and resourceful laser hobbyists over the decades and if I come across someone who has proper Ruby laser mirrors or the proper High power flash lamps, I will let you know if you wish. I know of a few people that tried purchasing some of the so called high power flash lamps off E bay and they were not satisfied. Some came broken and one person received 4 tubes and they did not look broken but they operated as if they were gassed out already. Some of the tubes being sold on Ebay are close to 50 years old or perhaps even older and unfortunately the tube seals eventually leak.
@magx1
Жыл бұрын
Impressive achievement, my friend! Nice work! As a word of encouragement, water cooling is not absolutely necessary for a pulsed device as long as the laser is allowed to cool between shots. I often take photographs of my laser burning through steel blades and other metal targets, and I allow the laser to cool several minutes between shots.
@LesLaboratory
2 жыл бұрын
This is fantastic! I read this paper some time ago, and was planning on doing something similar, but as you say the optics are hard to get hold of! Where did you acquire a ruby rod so small?
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I got the mirrors and the rod from an expert who I had some correspondence with. He very generously donated the optics to me after we talked about this setup. So I just got very lucky. I suppose HeNe mirrors could work as well, depending on the type. The rod itself is a much bigger problem. Maybe one could find someone to cut and polish the small 3.5x45 rods you can find on eBay. Not a cheap project for sure..
@LesLaboratory
2 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry Truly a brilliant job, home machined mirror mounts and everything! Yeah, almost all laser projects cost a fortune, which is why I spent so much time developing my N2 Lasers. I picked up some Ex Soviet ruby rods, but my smallest is 76mm. That said, I suspect it may still be possible to end pump them with a little thought and careful selection of pump wavelength. Side pumping may also be a possibility, but I suspect it would be a water cooled affair, with many watts of pump light.
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
@@LesLaboratory The Problem with end pumping long crystal is that with more length, you need exponentially more power. Also, regions which are not pumped, absorb the emission of the other regions (unlike Nd:Yag) so it is critical pump the whole length. Also you need long focal lengths for getting a fitting Rayleigh length and therefore high pump intensities, but higher Rayleigh length means bigger spot diameter means less energy density. I am very doubtful that anything over maybe 20mm can be pumped using diodes that are available to hobbyists, but I could of course be wrong. Side pumping might work however. You could use a cylindrical lens to focus the widened beam into the ruby. Here, the focal line should be very close to the edge, so that the pump energy doesnt get absorbed on its way.
@WienfilmAt
5 ай бұрын
perfect done!
@christopherleubner6633
Жыл бұрын
Very tricky feat. Did a cw ruby way back around 2000, was a super thin rod with a low doping and pumped by a mercury capiliary lamp. The rod also required exceptonal cooling. Not very efficient. Try doing a CW TiSapphire laser. You can tune it over a wide band of the IR to red. 🤓❤
@WoodenWeaponry
Жыл бұрын
Hi Christopher, that sounds super interesting. Diode pumping has given hobbyists so many possibilities nowadays. Funny that you mention it, I am actually currently working on a DPSS TiSa. Got everything together, it doesn't lase yet, but I am certain its close. Its been my longest and most complicated laser project so far.
@GrantFalkenburg
2 жыл бұрын
Excellent video. Thanks for sharing it.
@ShopperPlug
4 ай бұрын
great explanation and demo of the DPSS. Can you explain more how you made the optics and would it be possible to simply get a ruby rod and cut it to size then surface grind the edges flat?
@bpark10001
Жыл бұрын
Regarding the mechanical stability: support the baseplate at 3 points. This way, no torque can be transferred to the baseplate. Leaning on the table should no longer affect laser output power. Question regarding polarization: ruby crystals output polarized light (the crystal structure has a transverse axis). The 405nm diode is also polarized. Is the absorption of the 405nm light by the ruby sensitive to polarization? Is it important to align the diode & the ruby axially?
@arktik75
2 жыл бұрын
Excellent from me too! Great work!Unexpectable!
@jackmclane1826
Жыл бұрын
It's a nice tinkering project, no question there. And this is also an exceptionally clean implementation. But is there any breakthrough other than the typical obstacles that come up when building a Laser? The design route is standard to every optically pumped laser. You need short wavelength that your active medium absorbs. And a resonator reflective at your lasing wavelength. And then you have a Laser. There are uncounted combinations of pumping, active media, resonator styles. Some of which surely have not yet been videoed. And I'm very sure many people have used blue laser light to pump ruby. It is what a ruby rod asked for since the first blue ray laser diodes came out. I know at least 3 different setups.
@WienfilmAt
Жыл бұрын
GREAT WORK DUDE!
@w0003947
2 жыл бұрын
Very impressive setup my friend. The rod that size would be extremely difficult to find, not to mentioned the mirrors with the correct coatings. Love it.
@ARCSTREAMS
4 ай бұрын
nice but would have been nicer if you had it running through smoke in the dark with the cam facing the output side to really see what the beam looks like
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
is it possible to either tune it or use another diode in order to get the green emission instead?
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
in your diagram it shows the laser output being divergent, so do you need a collimating lens after the oc or is this only exaggerated?
@ARCSTREAMS
4 ай бұрын
in your schematic at 9:50 why does it show the output beam diverging after the oc? is this what actually happens if so do you not need a lens to collimate it?
@Chris-io2cs
2 жыл бұрын
This might be a dumb question but if you were to side pump the ruby is there any reason you'd actually need laser diodes? I.e. what if you just used several watts worth of 'normal' 400nm uv diodes could you still achieve lasing? Ignoring cooling concerns of course would this just work similar to a flashlamp by illuminating the entire rod? (edit: somehow during my first scroll through I missed the one comment where someone claims to be doing pretty much exactly what I was asking about, so apparently it would work in theory. But I am still curious because in your response you mentioned comments aboht LED pumped lasers being problematic. If you see this I'd love to hear more on the subject if you have any more information or even just anecdotes or assumptions that you're willing to share)
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
Hi, it is theoretically possible to pump the ruby with 400 nm LEDs. Flashlamps work and they emit not even pure 400nm. But of course only because they emit extremely intense light (which they can only sustain in shorts pulses). But cw pumping with LEDs would be extremely impractical, remember that I needed like 0.3W to threshold a ~200x200um channel, pumping a whole crystal at once probably would need much more than just several watts. So the concerns (at least in my head) are purely practical. I'd love to see it happen but I dont think its going to..
@rocketmentor
Жыл бұрын
Ruby is a 3-level system which means it needs very high pump energies yielding lots of waste heat requiring water or LN2 for cooling, so I don't think it's lasing only fluorescing. I routinely demonstrate ruby fluorescence to customers at a mineral shop that I work at using 15 mW 405 laser pointer. So, you need to test that red light to see if it's coherent laser light or just fluorescent ruby light which is a nice deep red. Sorry if I popped your bubble conversely if I'm incorrect about it not lasing. I've read where a continuous ruby laser was built using liquid nitrogen for cooling.
@WoodenWeaponry
Жыл бұрын
Hi Roxanna, I am very certain it is indeed laserlight. The laser can be modified for it to show transverse (TEM) modes, and I have done that recently. This behaviour is impossible for pure fluorescence.
@bpark10001
Жыл бұрын
I suspect that it IS lasing. First was his comment about getting TEM01 mode structure when it was misaligned. Second is in the video: I noted scintillation of the beam around the edges where the camera is not freaking out with the high light intensity.
@finnheydemann8976
3 жыл бұрын
Cool!
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
would be cool if you done this in the dark and used fog machine so we can see what the beam truly looks like
@_Junkers
2 жыл бұрын
Perhaps I missed it. What is the efficiency of this system? (output of diode laser vs crystal output)
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
I only measured the power way after publishing the video. I got about 45mW with 1W of pump power. So the efficiency is ~5% Not a lot, I think Dr Luhs got a bit more in his 2019 original paper. The article is free to read, I greatly recommend it!
@ARCSTREAMS
4 ай бұрын
hmm is the wavelength different than the typical 694nm you get using a flash lamp because you are using another pump source and its absorbing and emitting something different frequency?
@WoodenWeaponry
4 ай бұрын
No, the excitation source has, in this case, no influence on the emission properties.
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry well you said the emission is 700nm not 694
@WoodenWeaponry
3 ай бұрын
Ah then that was an approximation/rounding on my side, sorry. No, it is still 694.
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry ok i should have remembered that each lasing medium requires the same unique energy no matter the source
@erickvond6825
2 жыл бұрын
You might actually try pumping the ruby from the side in a defocused mode. If you can illuminate the crystal more uniformly it might reach a higher state of excitation and increase the output.
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
I dont think you can reach the critical optical power density for population inversion using that way, at least not with a normal laser diode. Focussing the beam seems to be the only option, imo. A flash lamp or cw arc lamp would work (and would be exactly what you described), but the goal was to build a DPSS System.
@georgeyork8975
2 жыл бұрын
My thoughts as well. You would have to up the output of the laser diode to say at least 40 watts!?? Would be interesting to try!!!!??
@WoodenWeaponry
2 жыл бұрын
@@georgeyork8975 The side surfaces of this crystal are not clear so I cant really try it. Also, at these pump powers, cooling of the ruby becomes an issue.
@georgeyork8975
2 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry that's actually true under those conditions.
@w0003947
2 жыл бұрын
This would be a DPSS rod pumping setup you referring to. In that case, water cooling is necessary. But i dont think 40W of 405nm laser bars available commercially...or at least 20W, to side pump that crystal.
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
if the mode volume is not coinciding with the pump volume then is there still emission happening? i thought there would not be any
@WoodenWeaponry
3 ай бұрын
If the pumped volume is not coinciding with the mode volume, there will still be fluorescence, but no laser action.
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry ty but it is funny how we are still seeing the intense lines of both volumes as if there is lasing and stimulated emission still happening although no output , there really should not be such sharp line if the resonator is not aligned and should only appear once mirrors align
@WoodenWeaponry
3 ай бұрын
Ah, I see what you mean. The fluorescence comes from the pumplight entering the crystal (first stripe) and being reflected and focussed back into the crystal by the curved OC mirror (second stripe).
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry ahh ok
@autoauto5548
3 жыл бұрын
Can i crave on acrylic with my cnc to make that lamp? (i have a sainsmart 3018 pro) like you did on your "cutest nightlamp video"
@WoodenWeaponry
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, that should be possible using a V-carving bit for the engraving and a normal milling bit for cutting it out.
@autoauto5548
3 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry Thank you for the response! Can you recommend some place where i can buy that led platvormfor the acrylic? 😁
@ARCSTREAMS
4 ай бұрын
huh so why have i always heard and read that ruby cannot be cw with an arc lamp or cw lamps?
@saravanakumar2989
3 жыл бұрын
Brother,,,, you cut the ruby???? I am also make Ruby's but it's not glassy it's I hit little bit of hammer its total broken down powder what should I do????
@WoodenWeaponry
3 жыл бұрын
Hi! Thats totally normal with this process. The ruby is polycrystalline due to the fast cooling time. Gem quality rubies are monocrystalline. Unfortunately, making those at home is close to impossible. To cut the ruby, I used a diamond cut off disc clamped into my manual milling machine. This let me control the cutting process a lot better than using a manual dremel tool.
@saravanakumar2989
3 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry ok bro now what I do???for perfect to make like real ruby
@WoodenWeaponry
3 жыл бұрын
@@saravanakumar2989 Regarding the cutting process, I was talking about the homemade rubies. Making and cutting a laser-quality Ruby is not possible at home. The only way to get them is by purchasing them. Or you could get one of those 45*3,5mm rods from ebay and find someone to cut it to a smaller length and polish the end correctly. So unless you know the right people (like I did for the ruby), its pretty expensive to get this crystal.
@ARCSTREAMS
3 ай бұрын
they said a ruby can not operate in cw mode as it has something to do with the energy level of the chromium atoms and their short excited state time etc ,,i need to stop listening to ppl and understand these things myself to know if it is possible or not because i too ever since i been fascinated with lasers always wondered if it's possible to run a ruby cw
@aj7utu
Жыл бұрын
Was it 694.3 or 692.8 nm?
@WoodenWeaponry
Жыл бұрын
Good question, I dont really have equipment accurate enough to measure that.
@aronbelov7660
2 жыл бұрын
how do you stick plans on plywood?
@willthomsen7569
4 ай бұрын
lol thumbtack dude
@aronbelov7660
4 ай бұрын
@@willthomsen7569 Thanks for the reply!
@austinhamby3088
3 жыл бұрын
Are you going to go back into wooden weaponry.
@WoodenWeaponry
3 жыл бұрын
Most probably not.
@austinhamby3088
3 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry Aww.
@Aww_420
2 жыл бұрын
@@WoodenWeaponry Ahh. I made nearly all of cs go knives and I'm searching now for wooden skeleton knife. I cannot find anything. Could You make this one please 🙄
Пікірлер: 68