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All content copyright © 1999-2009, B Vanderkolk



Welcome to my reference section. In here I'll be gathering general data and reference info on stuff having to do with lasers and optics. Even though my interest is on laser light shows and the hobbyist/amateur side of lasers, I'll still put more technical information in as well as it will surely come in handy to someone. If the information I provide here helps even one person, then I've met my goal.

Scroll down the page to see what is available.

SC2000 User Manual
SC2000 Help File
Programming manual for the SC2000 by GSI in PDF format.

Win SC2000 "help" file for the SC200 command set. Just unpack the zip files into the directory as packed, then click on the help file and it should configure for your system.

Courtesy of Doug Doulmage.

Cambridge 68xx and LM22SDA Galvo Driver Tuning Manual
Courtesy of Steve Roberts.

Omnichrome Model 150R Power Supply Check Out
This is the service manual for the Omni 150R laser power supply, complete with step-by-step calibration instructions, oscilloscope images, schematics, and circuit descriptions. Thanks to Steve Roberts for providing the original documents. I have converted the document to HTML.

Letter to the Airline Pilots Security Alliance
A letter to the APSA president regarding their "security-alert", "Reports of Laser Beams Targeting Aircraft". Follow the link to be taken to a seperate page.

Sam's LaserFAQ
Now that I have my own web site and have lots of storage space I am pleased to be able to store the zip archive of Sam's LaserFAQ. Version 10.00 (22-Apr-10) - current as of March 20, 2011

Download Now! - 66,720,669 byte zip file

Teletrac Stabilized HeNe Laser Overview
An overview and phots of the Teletrac Stabilized HeNe laser. Just click on the picture to a dedicated review page.


Spectra Physics 262a Power Supply Schematic

I don't remember who emailed this to me off hand but it was someone from alt.lasers several years ago. It's labeled as being for "Model 162A-262A / 262A-01"

Just click on the image at left to see the full sized 4198x2544 JPG file.
(582,646 bytes)

Omni 150 rev C Power Supply Schematic

Here is a schematic for the Model 150 rev C Omnichrome argon laser power supply. To be specific, the board is marked "ALPS 14B REV C". This schematic only contains the control subsection from the umbilical and remote connections to the power MOSFETS. The rest of the supply is nearly identical to the Model 150R schematics found in Sam's LaserFAQ. This schematic drawing is based on work by Martin Whybrow who drew up the schematic for rev B of this same supply.

Be forewarned! I have taken great care in trying to be accurate but there may yet be errors. If you find any, do let me know.

Just click on the image at left to download the PDF file. (286,231 bytes)


HeNe Laser Discharge Spectra - Updated!!!


This is a digital picture of the spectrum of the discharge glow from the bore of a 5mw class HeNe laser operating at 632.8 nm. I took the picture using a digital camera through a reflective diffraction grating. I took four pictures in all at high resolution and then stitched them together to make an even larger image. Using various resources I have attempted to identify the wavelength of most of the emission lines.

Click on picture for full size version. (3600x300x16M) (510,557 bytes)

Visible Laser Spectrum Chart
This is a chart of the visible spectrum with common (and some not so common) laser lines of the more common (and again, some not so common) lasers. This chart only deals with wavelengths from 800nm down to 350nm, which is covers just a tad more than the visible spectrum. The thumbnail below is only 1/4 size. The full sized image is pretty big at 1230x2048 and in 24 bit color.

The image is available in two formats, TGA and TIFF. Due to unsolved problems with placing TGA images on my website that don't don't get munched when someone downloads them, it is only available in a ZIP file. This is actually good as for some odd reason I am able to zip up the TGA image down to about 68k even though the original TGA is already in a compressed format. Go figure.  I tried using JPEG but I didn't like the artifacting left behind even on the lowest compression setting, so I didn't make that version available.

Oh, and if you find any errors or have additional laser lines I could add, please send that info to me.

Unless you have a TIFF plugin for your browser, you will have to save these files to your hard drive and view them using image viewing software. They will not open up in the browsers window.

TIFF format - 295,150 bytes
ZIP file of TGA version - 69,505 bytes


Laserscope Modification Schematic

This is the handwritten schematic by Bob from alt.lasers for modifying the Laserscope DPSS medical laser to run without the use of the built in computer. The picture is rough and may be hard to read. If you have any questions, I suggest asking Bob in alt.lasers about it. I am simply giving this schematic a home so that people can find it. Bob makes no claims to being the best drawer or speller.