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LASER Technical Reference Guide A comprehensive technical explanation of laser technology |
01. Lasers: Safety, Diode Lasers, Helium Neon Lasers, Drive, Info, Parts
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A Practical Guide for Experimenters and
Hobbyists
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Version 2.62
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Copyright (C) 1994,1995,1996,1997 Samuel M. Goldwasser Corrections or suggestions to: sam@stdavids.picker.com |
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--- All Rights Reserved ---
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Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: |
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1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying. |
Both laser diodes and helium neon (HeNe) lasers are popular hobbyist projects.
This document includes information on both - hopefully it will grow in the future.
Our emphasis is on the care and feeding of these types of lasers. Thus, you will not find much information on the design of laser shows or holography experiments. I leave these to the many excellent books and articles that have been published over the years. However, on-line resources for driving laser diodes and powering helium neon lasers seem to be scarce. Some of those that exist are incorrect and potentially dangerous (or at least destructive).
This document was written in the hopes of rectifying this situation.
This document is still under development. Many of the circuits have been reverse engineered - traced from various schematics or actual hardware. There may be errors in transcription, interpretation, analysis, or voltage or current values listed. They are provided solely as the basis for your own designs and are not guaranteed to be 'plans' that will work for your needs without some tweaking. We are not responsible for damage to equipment, your ego, blown parts, county wide power outages, mini black holes, planetary disruptions, or personal injury that may result from the use of this material.
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