homemade TEA N2 laser No.2 (with instructions)

So this is my latest TEA nitrogen laser setup I built for fun ( and to check if the microscope slides are ok als output coupler windows for my LE setup.

By the way: this is a wonderful way to use those super strong neodymium magnets! The dielectric is overhead projector foil for laser copiers (130µm thick).

You DO need ear protection. There is a big difference between 80dB(with) and 110 dB(without protection)!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• homemade
• TEA
• N2
• nitrogen
• air
• laser

[toadsEATbugs]

I made one but it doesn't work. I think it might be the aluminum. What kind are you using? And what's your power supply?

[hboy007]

@toadsEATbugs Did you use anodized aluminium? This stuff has a very thick oxide coating and is of little use in lasers.The aluminium bars in the video are plain metal with only the very thin natural oxide. The power supply is homebrew and uses a flyback transformer.

[CrazyScience]

Increase performance of your N2 TEA laser: replace charging coil with HV resistor (or string of small resistor. Make dumper and peaker capacitors equal or near equal. Place your spark gap on the middle of the one capacitor plate. Cover upper capacitor (conductive) foil with sheet of thick plastic to get rid of air bubbles between dielectrics. Try to find bottle of nitrogen instead air - it will increase output power about 10 times (in this case, you can make wider spacing between electrodes).

[hboy007]

Thanks for your comment. I see you haven't uploaded any laser videos yet.

Personally, I prefer the inductor because its effect is totally insignificant ( I also did some calculations to see what effect the inductor has on the circuit). What air bubbles? And finally.. I know it works way better with pure N2 ... but look at the setup; Does this seriously look like I'd bepushing for the last bit of power? I just wanted share some basic insight concerning the inductance and threshold voltage.

[radumotisan]

very nice setup, some details on the powersource, power usage, and laser output?

[hboy007]

Thanks. I built the power supply myself. It uses a medium power flyback transformer, driven by a BU508 bipolar transistor. The driver voltage is 0..60V, creating 0..30kV output voltage which breaks down to below 20kV when powering this laser. power consumption is about 30W whereas the output could be 1-2mW.

[rulesofethics]

i want more.. do a newer video please..

[MrMeat42]

I wish uv lasers were commercially available, so I could buy a laser pointer instead of building a laser instead

[hustlaab]

wats your voltage from the flyback, would 10000 be enough(continuous output)? haha watts wats

[toadsEATbugs]

I can't tell if it's annodized aluminum. I bought it at lowes, though; it's aluminu stock. I think there might be another problem too. The spark gap fires way too fast. I don't know why, it just does. When I set it at 1mm, it fires ?300 or so times a second. Even when I power it with 4 AA batteries it still fires too fast. The aluminum electrodes won't arc unless they're about 0.5mm apart. Do i need to limit the current?

[TheNuclearWatermelon]

can you see the dot with the naked eye or is it completely UV (invisible)

[Sood1200abhi]

ahhhh seizure!!!!!! (jking)

[CrazyScience]

Well, yes. There is no videos on my youtube channel. I worked intensively long time ago, maybe in time before youtube existed. Today found one old (cca 2005.) video that may you interest. Also, you may visit wikipedia and type "nitrogen laser" - in English, at the bottom of that page, there is one link which pointed to my page "TEA N2 laser prototype".