Jon's Homebuilt Lasers - Cyonics/Uniphase 2214-SLT

Cyonics/Uniphase 2214-30SLT Argon-Ion Laser Head -- Updated 03-25-2002

I seem to somehow attract the Cyonics/Uniphase line of 2214-XX laser as of late. This is my first argon-ion laser. The head itself I purchased from a laser surplus dealer (Meredith Instruments) at a good price, condition unknown, it was worth the risk, and actually both of the heads I purchased lased.

Argon-Ion lasers require a fair amount of energy to produce a beam, and when they are producing a beam they are doing it very inefficiently with thousands of watts of waste heat. Running this laser with it's PSU for 30 minutes warms up the first floor on my apartment noticeably.

The photo, below, is of the laser running a pulsed power supply. A pulsed power supply is a supply which provides the argon laser head with everything required to run, except continuous current. The filament is warmed, and a capacitor is charged through a high value resistor. When the tube is started the current rushing from the capacitor causes it to lase for a moment until the current from the capacitor falls below the threshold required to maintain a plasma inside the tube. The capacitor then recharges through the high value resistor. This is documented in the 2214-XX section of Sam's Laser FAQ

Our next photo is of the 2214-30SLT head running on a continuous supply at about 8 amps with a lot of smoke in the beam path. This laser was tested to do 22mW @ 10 amps by the people I recieved it from. It should be noted that the SLT means this head is a SINGLE LINE it does not produce multiple colors like other laser heads might. Check the new section '2214-40MLAM' for a similar laser but with 6 different lines of color. This laser head is running on a supply built using schematics from Sam's Laser FAQ, and in FAQt the 2214-40MLAM head I just got running uses schematics(Model: SG-IX) from the laser FAQ as well. Make sure to check for "Sam's Laser FAQ" in my links page. I suggest to at least build the SG-IY with the linear pass-bank on it for current regulation, and thanks to the modularity of these supplies, can be upgraded into a light/current tracking supply.

Argon Laser Pulse

The image below is of a Cynoics/Uniphase argon head I purchased(actually two of them, only one is showing) Which, due to gas pressure problems are near the end of their life. The head in the photo puts out 22mw at 10 Amps.

Argon Laser Beam