<==== Sam's Laser FAQ ====>

Safety, Info, Links, Parts, Types, Drive, Construction

A Practical Guide to Lasers for Experimenters and Hobbyists
Version 4.46

Copyright (C) 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998
Samuel M. Goldwasser
--- All Rights Reserved ---

Corrections or suggestions to: sam@stdavids.picker.com

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.

Welcome!

This document (named Sam's Laser FAQ) has a great deal of practical information on a variety of laser related topics:

• 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.
• Diode, helium-neon (HeNe), argon/krypton (Ar/Kr) ion, and carbon dioxide (CO2) laser characteristics, drive requirements, power supply design considerations. Schematics for *8* diode laser drivers, *16* complete HeNe laser power supplies, and *4* complete Ar/Kr ion laser power supplies, as well as many other support circuits like regulators and modulators.
• 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 more.

What's New as of V4.40

In addition to many general additions and enhancements, the following may be noteworthy:

• 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 in Sam'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 (under development).
• 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!

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) either on-line or in print.

If this was what you were looking for, your search is over! :-)

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).

The mirror sites (no pun intended... OK, well maybe just a little one-sided one) will always maintain a reasonably current version of this document. Check the individual sites for the latest version and specific viewing and download options and try to use the site nearest you to minimize Web traffic!

Note: The Sci.Electronics.Repair (S.E.R) FAQ usually includes Silicon Sam's Technology Resource (SSTR). SSTR always includes Sam's Laser FAQ. The Laser Equipment Gallery (LEG) is only present at selected sites.

The SSTR Home Site (which is part of the S.E.R FAQ Home Site) will always have the very latest version of Sam's Laser FAQ hot off of my computer's hard drive! Those at the others should be very nearly as recent - all nicely formatted, indexed, and cross referenced. The 'Zipped' entries provide the compressed file "laserfaq.zip" containing the text and all referenced artwork (photographs, diagrams, and schematics). Thus, it is very convenient to set up a local browser-accessible copy. Just download "laserfaq.zip", unzip into its own directory, and add a bookmark or link to the file: "lasersam.htm" or direct to "laserfaq.htm" bypassing the pleasantries and mirror site info. The total size is over 3.5 MB after decompression. Make sure you have the space! See Sam's Laser FAQ Local Installation for more information.

There is also an early versiond (eve predates the name "Sam's Laser FAQ) at The Laser Resource Library which is quite ancient (and ugly) at this point. I have no plans to update it mainly because I have lost the password and become disgusted with the annoying advertising imposed by the operators of that site. :-)

Note: Where another document title is referenced without a hot link or identification of a specific book or paper, it will be located at the S.E.R FAQ Home Site or one of its mirror sites.

We are always looking for contributions (of all types) in any and all laser related areas to expand the content of these sites.

Forward to Sam's Laser FAQ Table of Contents.