🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <massoud.57@chemteca.sdsu.edu> massoud@chemteca.sdsu.edu (Massoud  
Ajami) writes:
> In article <1992Aug26.043710.27944@vpnet.chi.il.us> cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us  
(gordon hlavenka) writes:
> 
> 
> >I have an _ancient_ laser which almost works.  It's a HeNe laser,
> >model 3100 from Gaertner Scientific (circa 1969).  It worked for a
> >while, but now has developed an electrical problem.
> 
> 
> You have lost the gas. You woudln't expect helium gas stays in the 
> tube forever?
> 
About five or six years ago I saw a little article in Applied Optics
about rejuvenating olf HeNe tubes by putting the tube in a chamber
with pressurized(?) He for a day or so.  The He would migrate back
into the tube and after a while the tube worked just like new.
Probably wouldn't want to overshoot though.  Can pressurize it in
fairly quickly, but would have to wait years for too much to
diffuse out again !-)
--
Thomas Clarke
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central FL
12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826
(407)658-5030, FAX: (407)658-5059, clarke@acme.ucf.edu