YAG Rod Adhesive and Other Questions...

[Laserman532]

Oh cool, i did not know you had that much stuff ready to go...dang now the only thing hanging you up is o-rings (and a good review on that great micromount by microlaserlabs.com...shameless plug)

[300EVIL]

(and a good review on that great micromount by microlaserlabs.com...shameless plug)

For Sure! Things are looking good so far! I should be done with my analysis in a couple days. The mount has been bouncing photons for the last 4 days.

[mixedgas]

flow tubes are usually cerium doped quartz for CW lasers. Cerium doped converts UV to blue. But for a single shot cooled laser, pyrex or quartz would be fine, but I'd avoid leaded glass. And I've seen rods held in by high grade silicone rubber, the white really expensive DOW Corning potting stuff, not the hardware store variety

Steve

[300EVIL]

flow tubes are usually cerium doped quartz for CW lasers. Cerium doped converts UV to blue. But for a single shot cooled laser, pyrex or quartz would be fine, but I'd avoid leaded glass. And I've seen rods held in by high grade silicone rubber, the white really expensive DOW Corning potting stuff, not the hardware store variety

Steve

Thanks Steve,
I'm definitely not splurging for a cerium doped flow tube. This is a pulsed YAG head and I have a local glass blower that's going to cut and flame polish a 12mm Pyrex tube to my dimensions. I guess my only concern with the flow tube is that the Pyrex he uses is low grade and has some radical lensing to it.

The flow tube appears to be nothing more than a channel for the inital flow of coolant. No seals or anything. By the time it gets around the rod the whole cavity is flooded. Never seen it done this way before but I guess it makes sense.

As for the silicone, It looked like hardware grade clear silicone and was applied in a sloppy manner. No doubt this was the WRONG stuff.

My question would be what is the RIGHT adhesive for this job???? I just cant see fitting a small enough o-ring in here to get a proper seal.

Here are the full pics of the cavity...

[300EVIL]

And I've seen rods held in by high grade silicone rubber, the white really expensive DOW Corning potting stuff, not the hardware store variety

Pick one!

http://www.escopro.com/One-Part-Sili...-Sealants.html



Oh, Here is a pic of a laser using this same cavity...

[Laserman532]

I may be mistaken but that tube appears a bit yellow to me which means cerium doped glass. Looks like a fun project adam, congrats

you can use pryrex the cerium doped one reduces solarization in rod among other things, but becaused it is pulsed it is no biggie

[300EVIL]

I may be mistaken but that tube appears a bit yellow to me which means cerium doped glass. Looks like a fun project adam, congrats

you can use pryrex the cerium doped one reduces solarization in rod among other things, but becaused it is pulsed it is no biggie

The pic makes the flow tube appear a little yellow but I'm pretty sure it's just Pyrex. I'll just be popping balloons and lighting matches anyway... LOL. No need for extreme pumping optimization at this point.
Thanks!
Adam

[300EVIL]

Okay, What do you guys think of this stuff???

http://www.norlandprod.com/adhesives/noa%2063.html