Optical and laser design and measurement forum

[CopperCone]

So my thread in geneal chat got decent support so i figured it is time to move up in the order of things.

The idea is that lasers fall under wave theory but the implementation of electronics,, waveguides, power supplies is rather unique by most standards.

Laser power supplies have high metrological requirements but they also have to be very specific with regards to failure modes, so the designs stand out quite a bit.

The thermal design is heavier then with most things because thermal coefficents are important towards wavelengght stability.

The wave part of laser design is very much unique.

I feel that it would stimulate discussion, build expertize and attract minds that would not be otherwise attracted to laser or optical design that already have a heavy knowledge of electronics and physics.

I suspect that if sucessful the forum will be filled with thread about analog laser and optical design along with discussion about unique test equipment related to lasers and optics along with some discussion about communication theory

It may also attract posters from other forums with practical knowledge in chemistry and high voltage related to higher power optics and chemical lasers.

I am somewhat disapointed withcurrent online discussion boards about lasers, they do not seem to have quite the same caliber of discussion.

[nfmax]

Yes please!

[dcarr]

+1

[JohnnyMalaria]

Definitely.

My work consists of designing and using a lot of electronics and computing power to measure the fluctuations of laser light scattered by nanoparticles. Photodetector design and selection is a very important, but poorly appreciated, consideration. The same is true for power supplies for diode lasers which does seem to be a mysterious art.

[CopperCone]

There are also other people that know about lasers and optical measurement that probably don't really read the general forum often

examples like this show the need for separate forum
http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/Category:Optoelectronic_instruments

[Brumby]

I'm a little undecided on the call here - but I do have a question about lasers that I would like to ask.  I am wary of diving into another forum because, as well as being an unknown environment (perhaps even hostile) it may prove to be a deep rabbit hole.

It is a question I would prefer to present to the sort of membership that is generally found here.

[Marco]

Why not just add it to the RF forum? GHz, THz ... close enough.

RF, Microwave, Optical, HAM Radio

[JohnnyMalaria]

No.

He-Ne red laser frequency = 0.5 million GHz

By the same argument, you could lump AF/LF in with RF, too.

[Marco]

If those accounted for a couple dozen posts a year which got lost in the ill-defined projects forum, but were consistent enough to have an audience, then sure ... add it there too.

It's not like the 2M band has much in common with microwave other than the EM physics.