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Thread: Carbon Disulfide Laser Plasma Tube

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    Default Carbon Disulfide Laser Plasma Tube

    I found a laser plasma tube that's the daddy of all laser plasma tubes. This early 1980s carbon disulfide tube is a four foot long stainless steel monster that's spent the past 30 years perched on a stump in Bellevue, Washington. The bellows on the ends allowed it to be used in a vacuum chamber, which was necessary because it was cooled with liquid nitrogen running through those channels.

    This is a type of laser nobody hears about, because of its application which I won't go into. Maybe later, when I find references for them. Anyway, this one may live on the porch.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
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    Is that thing for real? Looks like the ultimate steampunk laser to me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NobleGas View Post
    Is that thing for real? Looks like the ultimate steampunk laser to me.
    Its real... no one in their right mind would go to that level of detail for a movie prop.

    Steve
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    Uv or far infar3d? Could not find much about it.

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    Far infrared.

    CS2 will lase on 16 lines from 11.482-12.249 uM

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    Odd thing is that the windows on the ends of the tube are clear. At 12 microns, I'd expect GaAs, Germanium or ZnSe. It was built in the early '80s by what's now STI Optronics. Here's a pic of John Zumdieck, who donated this along with a copper vapor tube and Nd:Glass slab laser head to the collection, and me after loading it in the SUV.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails CS2 in SUV.jpg  

    Last edited by Eidetic; 03-28-2018 at 06:00.

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    Probably sapphire or one of the IRTRANs for 5-6 micron or 12 micron CS2 mixtures, CS2 lases in a bunch of places, depending on what its mixed with. if its truly for CS2.. DOD has some rather unique broad spectrum windows etc... Some of them are clear out to 15 microns, so one can't play "Guess that Window" if its one of Uncle's toys.
    Sort of looks like an excimer tube I've seen before...

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 03-28-2018 at 17:20.
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    It can lase yellow so I’m no longer interested....

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    mixedgas's Avatar
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    Kecked, you really just need an old Novus Varia from Coherent... 1.2 watts of CW solid state yellow as well as red and green. However you can get a nice beemer (BMW, not Beamer as in projector) for what those go used. There is a Sapphire 561-100 head on Fleabay right now, lasng, but no driver. However you can feed a lot of homeless people for a week for 1,000$.


    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 03-28-2018 at 17:55.
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    I found a paper that I believe describes this old plasma tube, or at least the research that included it. It's "High-pressure CS2 electric discharge laser" by Nelson, L.Y., Fisher, C.H., Byron, S.R., Applied Physics Letters, 25, 9, 517 (1974). Looks like this tube is from the mid-1970s and not the early 1980s. The paper mentions the use of KI windows. Those would look clear, but I didn't think they would survive outdoors in the Seattle area for 40 years. Amazing.

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