> happening. The Spinnaker is a water cooled 1 Watt Ion Laser. It's maximal
> output is 272 mW as measured on the multimeter of the remote controller.
That's rather vague. It sounds as if this a 1 Watt Argon-ion laser running
on
488nm. That would be close to specs, I suppose.
> After coming back from Holidays (Laser has been 3 Weeks without running)
> the laser started to give troubles.
Very hard to say. It sounds as if there is something in the optical cavity,
intermittently and temperature dependent. It could be just dirt.
But the weak point of an ion gas laser is the cathode. After sufficient
wear,
the wires can sag into the optical cavity, stopping lasing. If that is the
case,
you need a new laser tube. (For a small laser, that usually means a new
laser
head.)
> Can somebody tell me what happens? Will I need a new laser very soon?
Could
> the laser be repaired? Does Spectra-Physics still exist and what is their
> address?
They certainly do. The website at http://www.splasers.com/ has contact
addresses. After the recent reorganisation, they have a European central
office in 64291 Darmstadt, Germany, Guerickeweg 7. Depending on
whether you are in the French- or German-speaking part of Switzerland
you should try service_france@spectra-physics.com or
service@spectra-physics.de .
Over here their service is usually quite good (which is why we tend to
prefer them over Coherent) but if your laser is old they may no longer
have spare parts.
> Is there a good book out there about Lasers with the topics: how
> they work, how you maintain, troubleshoot and repair them?
Lasers are a very diverse subject :-). What cytometry people generally use
are ion gas lasers. In the case of modern equipment, the rule is: Don't
touch
the internals. Older ones need some tuning, but without extensive training
I recommend that you don't touch anything except the mirrors and the fuses.
It's definitely not a good idea to tamper with that high-voltage,
high-current
power supply... and you can't do anything about the laser tube.
There is a decent FAQ on the internet, Sam's laser FAQ. For example
on http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/laserfaq.htm#faqtoc
with the relevant section on
http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/laserarg.htm#argtoc
(There are multiple mirrors.)
--
Dr. Emmanuel Gustin, PhD TIBOTEC NV
Generaal de Wittelaan L 11B 3
2800 Mechelen, Belgium
e-mail: Emmanuel.Gustin@Tibotec.be
Tel. (+32) 15 401 211 Tel. (+32) 15 293 100
Fax. (+32) 15 286 347 Fax. (+32) 15 293 192
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 03 2002 - 11:57:51 EST