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Registered Member #1025
Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566
Hi, this is my first post in this section. I'm only the end user of lasers, I've never investigated them. Recently there was a technician repairing something in the laser module of our Zeiss confocal microscope so I took a picture of the guts... Nice work iside, indeed.
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
Very nice hardware.
I once made a primitive version inspired by Minsky's 1950's design. The sample was connected to two voice coils to get X-Y drive and there was a fixed red laser with optics from a CD player. The voice coils were controlled by two 16 bit D/A converters.
With all the cheap DVD players floating around I am sure someone could whip one up in a hurry. Maybe with a USB connection then we could all build one.
Registered Member #690
Joined: Tue May 08 2007, 03:47AM
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 616
Funny, the thumbnail looked to me like it was a picture of a pile of junk parts and wires, but upon enlarging you can see how incredibly precise everything is.
BTW is that granite it's mounted on, or something else? Why is that?
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
Granite is very good for precision systems like this. It is heavy, it is stiff and it is a composite material where the grains have a different speed of sound so it dampens vibrations very well.
Registered Member #1025
Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566
Shaun wrote ...
Funny, the thumbnail looked to me like it was a picture of a pile of junk parts and wires, but upon enlarging you can see how incredibly precise everything is.
BTW is that granite it's mounted on, or something else? Why is that?
Yes, it is granite or some kind of artificial stone - I was also surprised. All the laser modules we have are based on simillar granite platforms...
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
It is a microscope that works by scanning a small dot of light over the surface and recording the strength of the reflected light. In a normal microscope all of the surface (and under the surface) will send light through the optics and it is very difficult to get optimal quality. When only a single dot is emitting light you can get a much higher contrast between fine details. Since it is know with perfect precision where the light comes from it is possible to do different tricks too to exctract more information.
In theory this can be made a lot cheaper than a normal microscope of the same quality but as the picture shows it is also possible to make it very complicated and expensively.
Some early TV cameras worked by the same principle, then they used light sensors instead of lamps to "light" the scene. Instead of adjusting the strength of the lamps they adjusted the sensitivity of the sensors. Think about it for a while, it has some interesting implications.
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Zeiss confocal laser module , open!
