Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Thread: Complex laser beam table anyone?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Switzerland
    Posts
    1,410

    Default Complex laser beam table anyone?

    Just came across this thing on the web...

    I can imagine the headache of the guys working on it at the end of the day, I got one just by looking at the picture

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	beam_table.jpg 
Views:	83 
Size:	1.78 MB 
ID:	53436

    Actually it's a laser system used to cool down atoms down to near absolute zero. No idea why so much beam redirections are used, but it's rather impressive...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    1,478

    Default

    ... this was a pretty old project, have seen this table some years ago -- but yes, "hardcore-science" nerds have much better/stronger nerves than normal people

    Viktor

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Bordentown NJ USA
    Posts
    286

    Default

    I am just trying to add up the cost of all that hardware that is mind boggling in itself.

    I tried zooming in to find out who made the stuff all I saw was yellow labels with numbers on the mounts I think it may have been IDs for the "hardcore-science nerds" schematic.

    But who ever provided the optomechanical parts for that made a fortune on the project.
    Dreamcaster Multimedia
    Visit our website:
    https://dreamcasterlasershows.com/

  4. #4
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
    Infinitus Excellentia Ion Laser Dominatus
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    A lab with some dripping water on the floor.
    Posts
    9,890

    Default

    Any proof that it works for more then twenty-five minutes at a time? The post-docs who care for it must be close to insanity at the end of the day.

    Steve

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Switzerland
    Posts
    1,410

    Default

    ... not to mention how to access the mount right in the middle of the table for a readjustment... lol

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Mission-Impossible-Tom-Cruise.jpg 
Views:	6 
Size:	235.0 KB 
ID:	53437

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    1,478

    Default

    ... it was a project at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics - here are some more images of "this type"

    Viktor

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Switzerland
    Posts
    1,410

    Default

    Nice.

    Though it would be way more understandable with the paths draw like this http://quantum.opticsolomouc.org/wp-...tion_photo.jpg

    Or even better, with some smoke to make the beam visible hardly imaginable in a sterile room though, not to mention the probably invisible wavelength...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Cleveland Ohio
    Posts
    2,599

    Default

    Steve reminds me of crazy man.....in basement !

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    UCSB
    Posts
    715

    Default

    All I can say is that I am happy I am not the one who is supposed to keep that disaster aligned. The system I got suckered into maintaining MIT was sensitive enough that to get usable data we had run at night, since the sun heating one side of our building would cause the mess to drift out of alignment faster than I could keep up, even with the countless feedback loops I added. We did manage to measure some pulses of light shorter than a femtosecond with it though!
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Ybsynthesizer.jpg 
Views:	32 
Size:	45.9 KB 
ID:	53461
    The next gen system was built on an optical table that was built on on optical table that was an E shape about 50m on the long side. By the time I had left the group there were 12 axis of beam pointing stabilizers and after 5 years of work on the length stabilization they were just starting to get the system to be interferometrically stable.

  10. #10
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
    Infinitus Excellentia Ion Laser Dominatus
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    A lab with some dripping water on the floor.
    Posts
    9,890

    Default

    A certain fellow waited till I had his system "fixed" then probably sent his doctoral student to fire it up without RTGDM or asking me. Result, ten Kilobuck Crystal Assembly (replacement cost installed from Manufacturer) blown/hole drilled thru on first high power shot... I found the replacement crystal for 1200$ from a third party, leading to the crystal seller offering me my next job through a mutual friend. You can't fix some issues but you can escape them some times.. That and having laser total power on a mouse driven software slider is not always a great idea.

    ~
    Crystal maker asked me if the process was type one or type two three wave mixing, and I guessed correctly... Next job was no picnic either. Thank the Lord I work for a more stable team of people two jobs later... Varying levels of "insane/distorted/twisted/not right in the head" are common in the photonics industry, academia, and almost as common as they are in the laser show industry.

    ~
    I'll never forget one memorable conversation: "You have millions of possible signals coming from the laser data, every second, what am I looking for?"... "Send me all the data, I'll know when I see it..."
    ~
    I do feel for some of these people, and when I do, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" comes to mind..


    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 01-18-2018 at 08:30.
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •