
Originally Posted by
nanoWatt
I don't know the year, but it is a Spectra Physics Argon Ion laser we have at the lab. It's probably about 10 years old. Someone turned the frequency adjustment knob a bit too much and the laser then would no longer put out it's 4W. It did about 1W for about 7 more years, and has recently died. They are sending in for a repair, and new components, which will be around $6k or so.
considering it was a lab laser, it had at least weekly usage. When on, and water cooled, we sometimes would run it 15-30 mins at a stretch to do research.