Original poster: Ben McMillen <spoonman534@xxxxxxxxx>
Terry, all,
I wasn't thinking pulsed. (sorry.. stuck in CW mode). I
suppose you'd need a really fast timer with a detector that
has an incredibly fast response time. I never actuall
thought about how you'd physically measure the length of a
pulse like that. Maybe a matreial with a really high
refractive index so the pulse would slow down (and also be
able to withstand those kinds of power levels)?
I'll see what I can find (if anyone's interested.. ;) )
Our Nd:YAG can put out some power (and it's got a Q switch)
so maybe it might be the one to try. I can't remember off
hand, but I believe the ionizaton of air (or any material)
is somewhat wavelength dependent (due to absorbtion peaks
at a certain wavelengths depending on the molecule). With
that being said, anyone remember what the peak absorbtion
wavelength for nitrogen is? That may be the determining
factor for which wavelength is appropritate to use for
maximum effectiveness with using to trigger a gap. (correct
me if I'm wrong)
Looks like I've got a bit of work to do ;)
Coiling In Pittsburgh
Ben McMillen
--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Original poster: Terry Fritz
> <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi,
>
> For firing spark gaps, cooling should not be a big deal
> at all without the
> water assuming you fire it like once every few minutes or
> something like
> that. 5W from an argon laser beam is not hard to cool.
> I was worried it
> might have some say Q-Switch electronics or something
> "sensitive". But it
> is far "too fast" for electronics. The length of the
> beam pulse is only
> 0.001 inch long!!!!! and contains 0.5 joule at 15
> terawatts. Seems like
> you could go hunting black holes with a gun like that!!!!
>
> I wonder how they "know" that.... I guess you would set
> a bunch of
> equipment up, fire the laser, note that nothing got
> recorded, and find a
> big hole blown through the sensor ;-)) I bet that is all
> determined by
> computer simulations... The spark gap experiment
> discussed is probably
> proof that the simulations are within 3 orders of
> magnitude of being
> correct :o))) I suppose the laser crystals will be on
> E-bay soon (they
> sound very simple!) and I know some of you have argon
> lasers handy ;-))
>
> Cheers,
>
> Terry
>
>
> At 11:23 AM 4/21/2005, you wrote:
> >Terry,
> > That is correct. There are no moving parts. However,
> the
> >crystal is contained in a cooling block that is water
> >cooled. The only thing you'd have to worry about is
> >isolating the cooling water supply. I think if it gets
> too
> >hot, it'll crack and then no more lasing. ;) Other than
> >that, it should work quite well..
> >
> >Coiling In Pittsburgh
> >Ben McMillen
> >
> > >
>
>
>
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