Hello All
I'm new to this group so want to say hello first and also ask for some advice please.
I've decided to get back in to holography. I used to make small holograms about 20 years ago with a 2mw randomly polarised HeNe and they were ok but not great.
Lasers are so much cheaper these days so thought it might be fun to have another go.
As a side project to me setting up my hobby room and a holography table i am also going to build a pulsed laser, mainly just for fun but if i could make holograms with it then that would be nice.
Nd:yag is easy to get hold of and i just bought a rod of ebay for not a lot of money and plan to build/buy a cavity and frequenzy double to 532nm.
In a CW set-up you can build an interferometer and see the fringes but i don't see how you could so this with a single pulse so am wondering how to tell you have a decent coherence length or how to ensure the output is coherent in a pulsed laser.
It anyone has put one of these together and has any advice or can point me at a resource it would be appreciated.
Thank you
Grayham
Hello and Pulsed laser coherence length
Hello and Pulsed laser coherence length
Welcome! Those using pulsed green lasers like to run the oscillator at a low frequency ( I think like 30Hz) without the amplifier rod being energized. That, along with persistence of vision, gives the ability to use an etalon to project fringes on a wall or screen. A single set of fringes indicates single longitudinal mode operation.
Building your own pulsed laser to make holograms is a big challenge, unless you design and build lasers all the time. I'd recommend looking for a great deal on something very old and making it work. Anyway, best of luck with the project!
Building your own pulsed laser to make holograms is a big challenge, unless you design and build lasers all the time. I'd recommend looking for a great deal on something very old and making it work. Anyway, best of luck with the project!
Hello and Pulsed laser coherence length
BobH
That has given me something to think about. The pulsed laser is only a side project and expect it may take a year of thinking with some trial and error.
I am going to start really simple with the holograms though, just some single beam reflection holograms while i try out a few cheap diode lasers.
I'm hoping to land a couple with a half decent coherence length.
Thanks for the input.
Grayham
That has given me something to think about. The pulsed laser is only a side project and expect it may take a year of thinking with some trial and error.
I am going to start really simple with the holograms though, just some single beam reflection holograms while i try out a few cheap diode lasers.
I'm hoping to land a couple with a half decent coherence length.
Thanks for the input.
Grayham