Coherent's First Born
Here's an ad I found in the September, 1966 issue of Laser Focus magazine. it shows the first CO2 laser made by Coherent, while still in the garage. A Model 40 laser this style tube went in to was on display at CLEO a few weeks ago. Such humble beginnings! Silicon Valley!!!!
fantastic stuff - looks kinda like my garage
As you say - such humble beginnings...
Rob
If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
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Beautiful.
Don't you just love this old stuff
Jem
Quote: "There is a theory which states that if ever, for any reason, anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”... Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001
Imagine being in that garage then. 75 Watts of invisible beam coming out the end of that simple glass tube of glowing gas. In your garage in '66! And the laser pointer crowd is blown away by a few hundred milliWatts to light a match. Put a lens in front of this beast (or probably back then it would've been a concave mirror) and you'll see some real sparks fly!
el gringo loco
Oh, I dunno, Bob.... there's a large, custom glass tube and hoses and... OMG - an Erlenmeyer flask!!! Looks like some kind of terrorists' meth-rocket lab, for-sure - better call DHS and SWAT, ASAP!!!!Originally Posted by robert hess
Thanks for that cool pic... love seeing those pioneering lasers - here's another 'old beaut'... (though much 'younger'..)
...I'd love to see this baby with the cover off... got any pix, by any chance?
cool, Man....
j
....and armed only with his trusty 21 Zorgawatt KTiOPO4...
Very nice! What year is that from? Any dates on the document?
el gringo loco
Hey RH -
Looks like the doc is from 1978, but I gotta believe the 921 was around long before that... I am sure our 'resident SP-man' can answer that... he got to work with them!Sir Bish, what sayeth-you?...
peace...
j
Senior Member
we built four of them in 1978 thru 1980 and as far as i know there were only 4 built. they might have built some before i got there but im not real sure.Hey RH -
Looks like the doc is from 1978, but I gotta believe the 921 was around long before that... I am sure our 'resident SP-man' can answer that... he got to work with them!
peace...
j
dang robert that brochure is 10 years before I ever saw a laser. Cool beans stuff.
Pat B
laserman532 on ebay
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt & selling it in a garage sale.
Ok, Pat, here's one that goes waaaaay back at Spectra-Physics. At CLEO I spoke with John Ekstrand (at S-P essentially from the beginning), who put me onto looking for one. This page is from the January, 1967 issue of Laser Focus.
Senior Member
Ok, Pat, here's one that goes waaaaay back at Spectra-Physics. At CLEO I spoke with John Ekstrand (at S-P essentially from the beginning), who put me onto looking for one. This page is from the January, 1967 issue of Laser Focus.
I was wondering when that would come up...an rf excited argon laser.
I knew of one that was in mint condition up in a place we called the bowling alley in building two in mountain view. I wanted it but the marketing manager at the time said that SP wanted to keep one of every type of laser made. The bowling alley was a very long room upstairs in building two...sort of a storage place. I was given the task to..."dispose of"...other types of lasers that we may or might not have had for "evaluation" so I did. end of story.
Pat B
laserman532 on ebay
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt & selling it in a garage sale.
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