[rescue] MipsPro Compilers

[James Lockwood]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002, Brian Hechinger wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 29, 2002 at 05:47:09PM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
> >
> >   Need more info...Manly as in "bright" or manly as in "burn"?
> > Visible or invisible?
>
> well, burn would be fun, but bright would entertain the neighbors.  thoughts?

N2 lasers are neat.  Miserable beam quality and low energy per shot, but
they are UV and can therefore pump dyes quite effectively.

For raw cutting/burning power, nothing really competes with a CO2 laser.
They have terrific gain and optics are readily available.  Nd/YAG is also
useful for certain apps that benefit from near-IR.

IMHO the best "hobbyist" homebuilt visible high power laser is Cu vapor.
They have some funky requirements (require high heat to keep the Cu or Cu
halide in vapor state and very sharp initiation pulses) but they have
terrific gain and are squarely in the middle of the visible band
(511/578nm green/yellow).  Their downside (copper plating out on the
mirrors after extended use) isn't really a liability for hobbyist use.
These are the lasers used in the popular Pink Floyd laser light show.

All you really need to build one is a high temperature rated tube
(alumina, quartz), 2 (inexpensive) mirrors, a high voltage pulse forming
network, some thermal tape and a vacuum pump.  Presto, 25W+ average power
in the visible range (damn bright!).  Boost the mix with hydrogen and you
go over 100.

-James [we now return you to your regularly scheduled Sun Rescue]