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Topic: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)  (Read 1725 times)

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Offline Capt. Mike

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A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« on: October 02, 2004, 11:00:39 am »
Well, we got our new LASER calibration stuff in this week, and I am in heaven.  Lot's to learn, lot's to do.  The two of us chosen to learn and do this stuff have been going at it almost non-stop, and there is so much more to learn...the only thing I can say is if I had this stuff when I was in High School, I might be getting out on parole this year (and that was 30 years ago)..we finished calibrating the optical spectrum analyzer and the optical power meter on day 3, and completed the calibration of the optical sources on Friday...the standards used are absolute standards certified by NIST.

Yeah, I know it's kinda geekish, but when you get to learn new things at nearly 49..hey, it's cool.

BTW, the first thing in the rule books is "Don't look at the light!" 

Mike
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Summum ius summa iniuria.

The more law, the less justice.

Cicero, De Officiis, I, 33

"It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't"
FZ, 1974

My chops were not as fast...[but] I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.  I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
 --Les Paul

Offline Just plain old Punisher

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2004, 09:26:54 pm »
Don't look into the light carol ann!!
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Offline Capt. Mike

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2004, 11:23:50 pm »
Egon, I looked into the light!

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Summum ius summa iniuria.

The more law, the less justice.

Cicero, De Officiis, I, 33

"It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't"
FZ, 1974

My chops were not as fast...[but] I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.  I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
 --Les Paul

Offline jualdeaux

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2004, 12:29:04 am »
Sounds cool, Mike. But could you please explain a bit more as i can't recall what you do that would take laser calibration? Thanks.
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Offline Capt. Mike

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2004, 07:07:05 am »
Actually, it is quite easily learned, it's the safety precautions that you really have to keep straight.

First, you take your absolute standards (these are standards the National Institute for Standards and Instruments calibrate) and you shoot the beams, one at a time, into an optical spectrum analyzer to calibrate it's frequency/wavelength accuracy.

Then, you shoot the beams through an optical attenuator into the optical power meter, take your readings at various attenuator settings, recording your readings, then you do it again into the standard power meter (calibrated at the Air Force Primary Standards Laboratory, Newark OH) and compare readings, and they have to be within the tolerance for that particular meter.

Finally, we take our sources (multiple wavelengths from 600 microns to 1600 microns) and repeat the above, comparing the readings obtained to the absolute standards.

An interesting sites with some information are www.ozoptics.com and www.kentak-laser.com 

Mike
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Summum ius summa iniuria.

The more law, the less justice.

Cicero, De Officiis, I, 33

"It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't"
FZ, 1974

My chops were not as fast...[but] I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.  I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
 --Les Paul

Offline Just plain old Punisher

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2004, 04:08:50 am »
Then you hold the world hostage with your "Laser" for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

MUAHAHHAHAHA
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Offline Jack Morris

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2004, 08:14:50 pm »
The best thing is, a police officer has to be stationary when taking a laser reading of vehicle speeds, so it's not like the police cruisers that have forward and rear radar that is monitoring vehicle speeds while the policeman/policewoman drives around. There are already affordable laser deflector/scramblers that give the laser operator false readings.

What I can't understand is those SPAM mails advertising license plate photo blockers, they operate off a radar signal, and if you have a really good detector you can slow down before you get to the camera's target area. So why buy a license plate photo blocker? I guess P.T. Barnum was right, "there is a sucker born every minute."  ;D

I still can't drive 55, or 75 for that matter when I'm on the highway or a deserted country road.  :)
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Offline Nemesis

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2004, 08:22:31 pm »
Quote from: Jack Morris on October 05, 2004, 08:14:50 pm
What I can't understand is those SPAM mails advertising license plate photo blockers, they operate off a radar signal, and if you have a really good detector you can slow down before you get to the camera's target area. So why buy a license plate photo blocker? I guess P.T. Barnum was right, "there is a sucker born every minute."  ;D

I suspect that these are for automated toll roads, automated speed traps and red light cameras.  If the automated system can't photo your plate you travel free and can run the red lights so long as a cop is not on the scene.  It lets you drive and set off the radar and not pay the price in fares or tickets
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Offline Lono

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2004, 01:18:32 pm »

Hey - talking about LASER's - I got a question for you egg heads here.

If I wanted to start doing some Quantum Teleportation experiments in my own home-made lab, what LASERS would I need and are they available to the public?

Also on the latest work by NIST using Beryelium Ions - is this using the same LASERS's as used in the photonic experiments?

I have the feeling that all of this work is soon going to be classified (much like the Anti-matter work) and I'd like to be able to do it for parties, family reuions, etc... b4 they pull the plug on it.

Also - since I live in Denver you think this latest work is Public Domain stuff and I can request it from NIST or can they pretty much keep it to themselves?

Any advice would be most appreciated!



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Offline Capt. Mike

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2004, 05:42:53 pm »
Try some of these...  http://www.ncsli.org/training/info_directory/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_view&category_id=2&resource_id=62

http://nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/jres/109/2/j92leh.pdf

http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div842/Gp4/group4.html

Also look at the links in an earlier post..these are companies that sell the stuff...

However, if you start getting into Class 6 LASERs...stay in Denver...ANSI requirements for Class 6 and above are body armor, face shields, etc...I work with Class 4 and below, and only visible and infra-red..we aren't prepared for ultra-violet...most LASER levelers sold in a hardware store are Class 3A, will only damage your eyes if you insist on staring into the beam for over 5-10 minutes without protective goggles...and the goggles are done to protect against certain wavelengths, so you have to ensure you have the right ones for the right LASER...

Goos luck,

Mike
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Summum ius summa iniuria.

The more law, the less justice.

Cicero, De Officiis, I, 33

"It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't"
FZ, 1974

My chops were not as fast...[but] I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.  I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
 --Les Paul

Offline Jack Morris

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2004, 06:30:42 pm »
Nem, I would NOT recommend trying going through a toll station on the highways in Mexico if you ever travel though there or visit, they have guards armed with fully autmotic M16s, and believe me, they will be more than happy to open fire.  ???
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Offline Just plain old Punisher

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2004, 09:11:05 pm »
At least from what I've read about the laser fuel and optics are more expensive than the equipment that produces the beam.
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Offline Nemesis

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2004, 09:24:01 pm »
Quote from: Jack Morris on October 07, 2004, 06:30:42 pm
Nem, I would NOT recommend trying going through a toll station on the highways in Mexico if you ever travel though there or visit, they have guards armed with fully autmotic M16s, and believe me, they will be more than happy to open fire.  ???

Not an issue.  I don't drive and if I did I would not be using such tools to evade paying tolls.  My allergies also make me very careful of any travel. 
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 FoaS_XC : "Take great pains to distinguish a criticism vs. an attack. A person reading a post should never be able to confuse the two."

Offline Bonk

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2004, 12:34:41 pm »
Cool stuff Capt. Mike! New toys are always fun.  Laser power and wavelength are critical issues for me in confocal raman microsocopy. The trick is to get enough laser power density on the sample to provide an adequate raman scattering signal without changing the sample, easy for ICs and stuff but live biological samples are bloody murder. I'm currently using a 40mW 514.5 nm air cooled ion laser. Only about 20mW makes it through the instrument to the sample though (controllable from 10^-5 to 50% with a set of 6 ND filters), but under a 50X objective, the laser power density is still sufficient to scorch through any number of materials. Wavelength is also important to me because raman scattering intensity is proportional to the fourth power of the energy (wavelength) of the incident radiation. Problem is, a shorter laser wavelength also results in an increase in the much stronger and interfering fluorescence.

Great to hear you're still loving learning!  ;D
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Offline Capt. Mike

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Re: A great Geek week (LASER's involved)
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2004, 03:44:37 pm »
The shortest wavelength we go to is 638 nm, with the longest 1550 nm.  Currently, our most powerful beam is 5 mW, but we are supposed to get a new system in the next year capable of 50 mW.

It appears that the USAF is pushing some of the bio calibrations onto us PMEL types, because we at least have a LASER training class, and the bio types don't as yet (this is the rumor passed on to me)..it's cool..as long as you keep learning, you stay young.

All of our current NIST lasers are HeNe types, but who knows what happens in the future (unless I win the lottery, in which case all bets are off)

Take care,

Mike
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Summum ius summa iniuria.

The more law, the less justice.

Cicero, De Officiis, I, 33

"It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't"
FZ, 1974

My chops were not as fast...[but] I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.  I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
 --Les Paul
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