Spectra Physics 155 HeNe

My "new" (to me at least...) HeNe showed up today! It's a Spectra Physics 155 manufactured in 1983. The output spec is 0.95mW at 632.8nm, but after 33 and a bit years I'd say it's probably not making that anymore, although it does still lase! :D


Picture time...

Came in a nice big box filled with bubble wrap, good job to the seller there! Leatherman for scale.





Nice round dot:


And the best part, the rather nice looking glass tube! :p

The camera picks it up the glow as being much more yellow/orange than it is, it actually looks fairly healthy to the naked eye, closer to the sort of pinkish orange glow a HeNe should have.



Cathode "end". The cathode is the metal piece in the larger glass tube.



Anode. The anode on the 155 is half way down the tube, SP157s and 159s actually use almost the same tube, but with the anode further down. This increases the length of the discharge/gain medium and results in a fairly big jump in power (up to ~5mW output).



Looking down the tube.



Unfortunately it does seem to have some power supply issues, it'll only start intermittently (or sometimes not at all). Will need to troubleshoot that, it may be a combination of failing driver and an old tube or it could just be the driver - thankfully they are very simple so repairs shouldn't be too difficult. :D

Hope everyone enjoyed the pictures/thread! :) Hopefully I'll have some more goodies to share with everyone over the next month or so, stay tuned. ;)