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 Post subject: Any Idea of what to do with an Laser
PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:27 pm 
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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?

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:56 pm 
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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.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:03 pm 
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Can you imagine what Nikolaus and Brian's 'playroom' would look like??? A set from Star Wars....

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:10 pm 
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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!

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:20 pm 
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Nikolaus Lackner wrote:
Wonder if our Dr. Bill has anything funny to add here....

Nothing funny. :( Just remember, lasers are not toys. Protect your eyes.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:44 pm 
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8) 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. :twisted: Now tHAT would have been a "toy" to play with ...

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 12:32 am 
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I would point them at airplanes :shock: Rubies you say..i had heard that before..pretty cool..is it a syn. ruby?

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:44 am 
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amethystguy wrote:
..is it a syn. ruby?


yep Jason: ".. For example, the first working laser was a ruby laser, made from ruby (chromium-doped corundum).".
quote from Wiki article
ciao
alberto

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:57 pm 
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amethystguy wrote:
..is it a syn. ruby?


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.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:07 pm 
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Bill Hanneman wrote:
Protect your eyes.


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.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:11 pm 
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amethystguy wrote:
I would point them at airplanes :shock:


I do hope you're joking!! :?

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:43 pm 
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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?

:idea:

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