What I want to know is what the heck do I need to power this thing? Its plug indicates it plugs into some sort of auxilliary device. Can I just hook the thing up to a power supply, or is it likely that a more complicated external driver circuit of some sort is needed?
PS. The reason for the urgency is that I got it (and some other similar lasers too) from a junked lab. If I know what to look for, the necessary driver equipment may still be there.
What you need is a (wait for it…) HeNe Laser Power Supply.
The laser that you have almost certainly contains just the discharge tube (it might contain a series ballast resistor, but that’s usually part of the Power Supply unit). Sam’s Laser FAQ page describes different models of HeNe Laser PSU. Such units must be capable of providing both a very high voltage (usually 8-10 kV) to start the discharge and a lower voltage (typically 2kV at a few mA) to maintain it under operting conditions. You cannot just hook a HeNE laser tube like yours up to a voltage source.
The three main parameters that you need to find out for your HeNe tube are starting voltage, operating voltage, and operating current. From there, you can try to find (or build, using Sam’s schematics) a suitable PSUIf you look at the links in the Sam’s Laser FAQ page linked to above, you’ll see the relevant specs for each PSU.
Does your HeNe tube have any visible part number or specs on a label? That would be a help.
For right now, you might want to go back to the junked lab and look for a likley power supply, i.e. one that will have the mating connector for the high-voltage one shown in the picture in your OP. That’s a standard connector for HeNe tubes with separate power supplies.
If you can only find HeNe PSU’s with higher operating voltage or current ranges than are optimal for your particular tube, you may be able to get around it by using a larger ballast resistor than shown in the schematics. Starting voltage is not usually too critical a parameter, although longer tubes generally need higher voltages.
Have you had much experience with high-voltage electronics? Any HeNe PSU’s will have more than enough voltage/current capabilities to kill you, so you need to be very careful.
The high voltage connector on your laser is known as an Alden connector (I had forgotten the name in my earlier reply).
I zoomed in on the image that you provided in the OP, and used my custom TV/movie-style CSI/CIA/NSA image-enhancer ™ to see that it is in fact a 1mW tube. Can you confirm this? If so, there are any number of “brick” HeNe PSUs that – either running from line voltage or +12V DC – can power your laser. Something like this eBay auction should work. You’ll need to put it in some kind of box and add a series ballast resistor (see here, but it runs from 120V ac and has a compatible Alden connector for your laser tube.
(As in my previous post, I caution great care if you are inexperienced with high-voltage electronics).
I built a power supply for a tube like this a few years back (probably about 17, now that I think about it). Threw it away a few weeks ago, since the 2700V supply I built drove a laser tube at about the same power as the ones you can buy at a dollar store now.
Yes, its a 1mW tube. And I know that you can get that from a pen laser these days, too. But I’ve read a little about DIY lasers and I figured I could maybe increase its output capability with some modifications.
I’m familiar with electronics and high voltage. Never worked with lasers though.
It’s pretty simple. You just need to hook those two prongs up to a … What? The aliens just vaporised Trigonal Planar? I guess I’m too late. Never mind.
Well, I’m back. The aliens didn’t vaporize me; they just took me to their ship and probed me in various…disconcerting…ways. Had I known how to get this laser to work I could’ve fought back.
