| MadSci Network: Physics |
Greetings: Building lasers is a very difficult task, especially for amateur scientists. Solid state lasers require crystal rods (ruby, YAG etc.) that cost several thousands of dollars. Making gas lasers requires expensive vacuum, gas handling and high voltage equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars. Making diode lasers requires semiconductor processing equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sophisticated amateur scientists have built carbon dioxide infrared gas lasers and this work has been published in the Amateur Scientist section of Scientific American Magazine back in the 1970s. There also is a web site for home built gas lasers which also describes the difficulty of the process at: http:// technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele/lasers/ You can now purchase red diode laser pointers for less than $15 dollars. Many sophisticated laser experiments and demonstrations can be conducted with these low cost devices. I would recommend that you conduct laser experiments with diode lasers in place of trying building an infrared carbon dioxide laser which would be invisible to human eyes. To get more ideas you might also send for an Edmund Scientific Corp. catalog which sells low cost optics, lasers and kits to amateur and practicing scientists. They can be reached at : http:// www.edmundscientific.com Best regards for the last year of the old century, your Mad Scientist Adrian Popa
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