Computer tech blog

[Smokey]

Thank god i haven't finished yet then... I was planning on stopping the beam with a brick of lead...

[Dr. Mario]

Yes, you can use that, but if you insist, try use Lead-Tungstate alloy brick (I have that, primarily for stopping X-ray laser radiation, in order of few watts to 5kW.)

Firebrick always have a small amount of Lead, naturally occuring in few of the portion rocks in the ingerident.

[Smokey]

Well, i don't have to worry about stopping any laser rays for a while... i blew the power supply and the fuse in the breaker box, so the project is on hold for a while...

[Dr. Mario]

How did you blow it up?

[Smokey]

Well, i have a lot of paperclips lying around and the power supply didn't exactly have a cover, combine that with a cat who jumps on my PC and thereby tossing some paperclips down and ZAP crackle; gone Powersupply and power to half of the first floor...

[Dr. Mario]

Well, what kind of lamp is providing the rod the pumping emission?
And, I'm curious also, what kind of laser rod are you using?

[Smokey]

Well i have me a nice ruby rod now (~10CM) and i was setting up a host of LEDs to light the sucker up ^_^ , but i can't say if it will work or not, since i can't supply it with power now, plus i have to convince my sister all over again that it's ssafe and that this was a fluke...

[Dr. Mario]

You're lucky, though - that you still can run it off the batteries.
Did you put in the fan to cool the LEDs and the ruby rod?

[Smokey]

Wait, fan? it needs forced air cooling?? Good thing you mention it, and that i haven't yet bombarded the rod to bits, that would be a shame...
Wow, normally i am one to cool even things that needn't be cooled... and now i am working with something expensive i forget it...  :/

[Dr. Mario]

Yeah. I'm just being safe. And, the high-power LED do get very warm too, when it's trying to spew out lot of light at the laser rod. And, the fan also provide the safeguard cooling, just in case the laser rod gets hot in operation.

Also, I would like to see the picture of your setup. (be careful of camera flash, though. If you have to use it, just use with the beam stopper brick, in case the laser fires with the camera flash.)

[Smokey]

Or i can use my big flash, then i can move the flash head to the left or right, so it doesn't directly illuminates the rod...
But i will get a pic up here when i get a chance...(i'll have to clear the desk and set it up again... ^_^)

[Dr. Mario]

It would be nice. Just take your time.

[Smokey]

Meanwhile, a thought crossed my mind when i talked to my sis tonight about super-solids and super-liquids; Lasers can also be used to cool something to near 0K...
All iyou need are a bunch of finely calibrated (powerful) lasers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_trap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling

[Dr. Mario]

Sorry I didn't have any time to stop and smell the roses. The laser-cooling method is interesting. And did you get it going yet?

[Smokey]

no, i haven't even had time to set the laser up to take some pics, let alone scrounge up a new power supply...