BUGBLASTER SR - High Power YAG Laser in Action

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Photos of BUGBLASTER SR - High Power CW YAG Laser in Action

(Photos and description courtesy of: Curt Graber (cgraber@fwi.com)).

Unit which we affectionately call "BUGBLASTER SR" (not to be confused with its smaller relative) is made up of components of several laser systems including: Lasersonics 8000 ND:YAG surgical laser, Spectra-Physics 3000 YAG pieces, 15 mW HeNe laser for beam positioning, optics from many different sources, and Mr. Stinkbug (from backyard). :-)

I'm setting the unit up for 532 nm frequency doubled operation for light shows and also incorporating a fiber delivery system to go to a scanning head (light show stuff) and an X/Y table for engraving purposes.

Power and cooling requirements are: 230 VAC three-phase at 23 A per leg with 2.3 gpm at 25 to 45 psi for sustained full power output.

Unit dimensions are 40" H x 52" D x 28" W and its weight is approximately 545 lbs (lots of steel!).

YAG max power output exceeds my coherent meter range of 100 watts.

YAG min attainable semi-stable (threshold) CW output is about 750-800 mW.

I have made a few modifications to the original laser cavity, power supply and optics to allow for a higher power output than the OEM original design.

The actual YAG rod is .250 in diameter and 5.25 inch long and is completely liquid cooled. The krypton bulb has a 6 inch arc with an envelope approximately 3/8 inch in diameter. It has an output I'm told of many thousands of watts (yet to be precisely determined).

BUGBLASTER SR - High Power CW YAG Laser in Action
- View 01 - BUGBLASTER SR Test bed. Note HeNe pointing beam delivery and excellent optics bench.
- View 02 - Target (Mr. Stinkbug awaiting the moment of truth) painted with 632 nm red HeNE pointer showing targeted path of ND:YAG output.
- View 03 - YAG control panel powered up and in standby mode.
- View 04 - YAG krypton arc lamp and power supply seeing today's reference level of power (230 VAC three-phase input, 28.0 A @ 600 VDC output).
- View 05 - "HOUSTON, WE HAVE IGNITION!" - A 1 second burst of serious light! The plasma (blue ball of flame surrounding Mr. Stinkbug) was about 2.5" across. This I found most intriguing as he only measured .75" from nose to ace. :-)
- View 06 - Target says bye-bye!
- View 07 - Closeup of target shows path of light energy. Note legs and a wing on test bed under targeted area.
- View 08 - Light energy that passed through Target was contained with a hardwood barrier backstop.
- View 09 - Coherent laser power sensor mounted to output lens for power level reading.
- View 10 - Bringing krypton lamp back up to reference 28.0 A for power level reading.
- View 11 - Coherent power meter reading 74.5 RMS W of energy!!!
- View 12 - Final view of Mr. Stinkbug (reverse angle).
- View 13 - YAG laser warning label. Note: This unit has been run up to 32.5 A at 600 VDC with measured power output of 100+ WATTS (the limits of the above meter).
  Author's note 74.5 W are more than enough to terminate your most hated pests no matter what color or size or surface texture they might be......
- View 14 - Upgraded three phase generation system to provide 230 VAC three-phase at 25 amps per leg from a 100 A single-phase 230 VAC input (motor is 15 HP).
- View 15 - Three-phase panel with starter caps to spin up the slave motor/generator.
- View 16 - Generated leg balance voltage capacitor bank (used to balance the output leg voltage potential from generated leg to initial power legs).