Weird Omnichrome 643 back to front

[NobleGas]

I've just put my recently acquired Omnichrome 643 on the bench to start re-aligning the optics and noticed it's rather unusual in that the OC is at the cathode end of the tube rather than the anode. This was obviously an OEM head (643-LICA), but really not sure why they needed the output beam at the 'wrong' end. I don't know if it's of any benefit to rebuild it the 'right way round' or just leave it as is; the mirror alignment is already completely lost, so it's going to need completely realigning whatever I do.

[mixedgas]

The bore is not tapered for mode matching on that tube, so no reason to reverse it unless you desire. One reason to do that is where two aircooled lasers are operating side by side and you want to isolate the airflows so they do not cook each other.

Steve