Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Very Old Ruby Rods

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Mesa, AZ
    Posts
    1,277

    Default Very Old Ruby Rods

    Here is a real nugget for the VLA that showed up on Ebay recently. It's a set of ruby laser rods and associated optics that I believe came from Trion Instruments of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Trion was formed in 1961 by Lloyd G. Cross and Don Gillespie specifically to make pulsed ruby lasers. It was the first company formed to make pulsed lasers although Raytheon was the first to sell a pulsed ruby laser. Their first laser was used by Peter Franken to discover harmonic generation of light. Their lasers were characterized by the use of liquid nitrogen vapors for cooling, and the use of TIR for the high reflector by grinding a roof prism into that end of the rod.

    The smaller of this set of rods has such an end. Trion was sold to Lear Siegler in 1964 and the TIR rods were continued by them. Both of these rods have glass sleeves bonded to their ends, for making the water seal in the cavity. They were bought at a surplus place in California in the '80s, along with five ruby mirrors made by Perkin-Elmer.

    By the mid-'60s, lots of companies were making pulsed ruby lasers commercially. The TIR end was a good idea, but must've been expensive to produce. I'm going with a date of 1963 on this set because I think the TIR end should be associated with Trion Instruments and not Lear Siegler. I've included a pic of a Lear siegler brochure that shows the rods.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Trion Rod Set.jpg 
Views:	27 
Size:	284.1 KB 
ID:	53486Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Lear Brochure D.jpg 
Views:	22 
Size:	400.9 KB 
ID:	53488

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

    Default

    Nice! I always want you to try my hand at flash lamp

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Mesa, AZ
    Posts
    1,277

    Default

    I don't understand the reference.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Cleveland Ohio
    Posts
    2,599

    Default

    I always wanted to try building a ruby laser using a flash lamp to drive it. Rods like those would make an interesting build. Nothing more complex then a statement of cool that's interesting.

Posting Permissions

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