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I recently bought some cheapish laser parts off of EBay: 1.8mmx63.5mm 0.5% Nd, 0.5% Cr YAG rod ($25), 3x3x20mm LBO ($35), 20W Spectra-Physics diode bar ($36). Can these parts be put together into some sort of reasonable DPSS laser given mirrors and enough work, or have I squandered my money on useless parts?
Yes, I know its a pain in the ass to build a DPSS. But I'm stubborn and want to give it a try :p
Well then I commend you for your ambition. Do you have links to the ebay lsitings for what you bought? It would be good to know more about these bits.
But my first thought is, I'm not sure if that rod can be pumped with that bar you bought. I need to do some more reading.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserfaq.htm
Rod: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Bar: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
I don't have a listing for the LBO since it was a second chance offer.
Quoting wiki:
YAG doped with neodymium and chromium (Nd:Cr:YAG or Nd/Cr:YAG) has absorption characteristics which are superior to Nd:YAG. This is because energy is absorbed by the broad absorption bands of the Cr3+ dopant and then transferred to Nd3+ by dipole-dipole interactions.[3] This material has been suggested for use in solar-pumped lasers, which could form part of a solar power satellite system.[4]
Is phi and theta marked on the KTP crystal? The crystal must be cut for a specific wavelength and coated correctly. You can download SNLO and put in theta and phi, plus wavelengths for a given crystal material and find out what is going on.
www.as-photonics.com/SNLO.html
Is the pump diode 808 to 810 nanometers?
Steve
You will need also Output coupling mirrors for the rod...I may have an extra set somewhere....I will try and locate them. Have you considered cooling the rod? Thermal expansion rates? It can be mounted into a clam-shell style block and still side pump it. JDSU end pumped their smaller greens....but it was a lot smaller rod. I think Junktronix had some smaller rods with brewster cut ends....negating the use of the mirrors.
@mixedgas: The LBO is coming in the mail, so I can't say anything about it yet. The fact that it's LBO and not KTP worries me a bit :( The diode claims to be a 808nm pump diode. Is there any way of checking?
@MechEng3: I have big TEC thermal-pasted to a gigantic heatsink that should be capable cooling the rod. I'm still missing mirrors (the OC should be HR1064/HT532, right?)
you can check the specs of the diode. if it is 808nm +-3nm you are pretty much ok. if it is 808nm +-10nm maybe you should reconsider its suitablity for your application
i think i have one of these brewster cut junktronix yag rods. in case you reconsider your design and can't locate anything at that time, send me a pm and i'll dig around to find it. i got an yvo4, so i won't be needing the yag rod
(looking for ktp 1064/532 coated and all now... and a pump diode...)
The diode specs are rather hard to find.
It is a DW20-50319-Q12; I'm not even sure which manufacturer anymore. The seller claims it is Spectra-Physics, but another Ebay listing mentions a Coherent bar of the same model :( It doesn't help that it hasn't arrived in the mail yet either.
Fortunately, used diode bars don't cost very much :) And there are some pretty interesting underspec (but still quite usable) Coherent bars on Ebay right now.
All the parts I ordered arrived today :) Does anyone know where exactly the diodes are located in a diode bar module? I see a row of golden stripes near the aperture, and I'm worried those are the diodes, in which case I should probably be very very careful not to hurt them.