Post subject: Any Idea of what to do with an Laser
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:27 pm
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
I have 2 RGB Lasers at work and run them from my control station. Looking on them I thought of their origin. Didn´t Lasers use Ruby Crystals to pump light? So I asked my self, if there is anything I could use them for Gemmologically. Maybe to produce some optical phenomena or so. Any Ideas?
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
Yes, the first visible light laser used ruby as the lasing medium. You can use various laser colors to identify many different fluorescence effects in gem material. For example, shine a green laser on a ruby and it will glow bright, bright red. Shine that same laser on an orange spessartine, and the spess will glow a nice yellow color. The deep violet 405nm laser will pretty much make anything with chromium (but without iron) glow red. Just a couple of many possible examples.
However, sometimes lasers provide a bit too much light and can cause some strange and quirky effects. Different color LEDs cause much the same reactions, and they are a lot cheaper.
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
I just wonder if I would dare to shoot with our laser on a ruby, I mean a real one, when there can b e strange effects... The laser has 36 KW Power in and at the end there are 8 W of Light coming out. I would say there is quite a chance something squirky happens... But Thanks for those first ideas, I will tomorrow look into the Laser specifications to look what exactly comes out at the end in the meaning of frequency and power of each color.
I´m sure this is something that I will never have the chance to try out again that easy - lasers especially rgb ones are not part of normal lab equipment for a gemmo. Wonder if our Dr. Bill has anything funny to add here....
Keep the ideas coming!
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
No worries Dr. Bill, the laser is certified for public use, that means the power in the Ballroom is limited to a harmless amount. And I would not open the Laser itself in the Amplifierroom without the Eye Protection. I saw the eyes of one of the laser guys. Don´t want to tattoo my iris that way.
Not far from here, just a few Valleys away, they used to have a giant Lasershow on the glacier at night. they used the mountains as Projection walls. The distance was up to several Km and the Laserunit itself was the size of a Standard Trade Container. Now tHAT would have been a "toy" to play with ...
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
Of course it was a synthetic ruby! Natural rubies have all those ghastly impurities embedded in them. And also you don't find many natural rubies that can be formed into quarter-inch diameter, six-inch long rods. And by the late 1950s, synthetic ruby production was well-known.
Also, best lasing occurs for a very specific mole % (quantity) of chromium in the corundum matrix. This amount of chromium tends to make the laser ruby rod a lot lighter red (dare I say "pink"?) in color compared to the preferred red of gemstones.
Jeez, for the lasers Nikolaus is around, I'd suggest protecting all your body parts. Eight watts of power will ablate through (um... what is a good synonym?... cut through?, vaporize?) most anything.
For more reasonable laser powers... milliwatts... one bonus for using laser protective eye-wear is that it makes fluorescence much easier to observe. When I first got my argon-ion laser, I was trying it out by shining its blue laser beam on a wall. I was wearing my safety glasses, and so I was quite disturbed to see a bright spot on the wall where the beam was hitting... until I realized that bright spot was colored yellow! The laser was causing the wall paint to fluoresce.
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
I have a 80 ct rough Saphirre crystal with me in Ischgl and since the Blue rough is opaque and treated, I will try a few shots tomorrow. Anyone an Idea what such a treated Blue Geuda Saphirre from SL will do under Laser light?
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
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