Nanolase head, need pinout or drive requirements information

[shrad]

Hi all,

I have acquired a nanolase 1064nm 100mW average pulsed laser head... but it doesn't have the driver nor connector...

Does someone have any information about pinout or drive requirements? I bet those don't like to run CW and must use a QCW laser diode...

That would be nice if someone could help me for that subject

[shrad]

small update to my investigations...

head was misaligned

contains a very nice mount for a C-mount (not a-mount like most of the other models) with a grin lens, a 1*1*1.5mm YAG, and a focusing lens

the Cr4+:YAG is a big block at the output aperture

will be a pity to realign this, but I think it is only absorbing laser light along the path as is is plane and far away from the YAG (not bonded together)

if someone has any information on common Cr4+:YAG usages other than bonded crystals, please tell me

the laser is currently putting out a nice 100mW of green when using a crystalaser coated KTP...

[catalanjo]

Interesting ! ......... Pics would be nice !
Cheers

[shrad]

I'll try to provide some pics tonight...

we have plenty of things to do today including picking mushrooms (there are cantarellas, boletus edulis, hydnums, etc... at the moment)

we are also getting married in a week and a half, so this is a bit tricky to get involved in personal activities these times ^^

I just had the opportunity to get a nice nanolase 100mW unit, and voila, I had to try it out

internal electronics drive circuitry is quite useless, there are two pots which are at the head level and control the current ant peltier temperature, which are in fact deported from the driver which is an EXCELLENT thing, a thermistor, a LM317 in TO-92 package (for whatever the hell it is there, I don't know, as it should surely not deliver the original 600mA min of the IR diode)

so basically all I did was power the IR diode out of a flexmod, and instant 1064nm laser... tried a hybrid in front of the bare YVO4 or YAG (I think YAG but it has pretty high efficiency so it could be YVO4) and paf, instant green flash, fiddling and a beam strong enough to be in the order of 100 to 150 milliwats (impact at 1 meter without collimation was still painful)

the same process in order to verify it was clearly 1064nm has been done with a KTP from a defunct crystalaser, and it did lase with nice efficiency

if I have no way of repairing the Cr4+ part, I'll put the KTP on a small TEC and design another driver for the whole laser head

the Cr4+:YAG in itself is a square of black coated material, approx 5mm square with a width of 3mm, glued on a square anodized aluminium pad (at an angle of say 5°) which is then glued on a bolt which itself is bolted on the output slit with shutter, sandwiching the enclosure

a picture will be better later on

[catalanjo]

Hey there.... thanks a bunch for the update... and good luck with the marriage thing.

Careful with the mushrooms..LOL

Pics would be great .... but maybe better to wait till after the honeymoon

Cheers

[shrad]

dont worry for the mushrooms they are yummy

the laser itself is running happily but has a divergence of at least 4 mrad (but I have I think at least 200mW of non pulsed 1064nm)

the Cr4+:YAG is tricky as only a small amount of light comes out at the webcam when placed where it should... I'll have a read about its uses to figure out what to do

maybe Steve will be able to tell me something about it or point me to someone... I'll drop him a PM

[shrad]

Here are some pictures for all those who like nice cavities

head :



opened view :



cavity detail :



Cr4+:YAG slab at the aperture :

[catalanjo]

Thanks for the pics !
Can´t locate the Cr4+:YAG slab at the aperture in the other pics!

Cheers

[shrad]

it's bolted at the apertude, on the lid :s

[krazer]

the Cr4+ is the q-switch, they are opaque to 1064nm until you hit a certain threshold amount of power at which point they bleach turn clear--the idea being that if you put it in your cavity it will inhibit lasing until you build up enough energy in the resonator, then it will bleach and all of the stored energy will quickly exit in a high power pulse.

If the cavity isn't aligned well enough you may not be hitting sufficient power to bleach it, or if the laser was designed for pulsed input you may just not be running the diode hard enough in CW mode to bleach the Cr4+