Boss Laser

On a sunny day (Wed, 10 Mar 2021 10:46:59 -0800) it happened John Larkin <jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com> wrote in snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Here is sound from the Perseverance Mars probe laser zapping rocks:

Seriously. Check the laser safety rules in your neck of the woods. I would be very surprised if it was not mandatory to have it in an enclosed safe space rather than in the middle of a large open room.

Perseverence is probably using the same technology (minaturised) as our laser ablation sampler. It avoids all that nasty wet chemistry of dissolving rocks. Turn into a plasma and analyse the by spectroscopy.

You could cut into a crystal and see how composition changed with depth. Reverse engineering chips layer by layer too although Cameca imaging mass specs tended to be more popular for that sort of thing.

TBH one laser zap sounds like another unless the target is bright metal or fabric. You mostly hear the expanding plasma shock wave.

XRF is less energy intensive for a Mars rover and non-destructive.

LA leaves tiny pits where the material has been sampled. Too small to see without a microscope so pseudo non-destructive it you do it right. They tend to be a bit nervous about using it on fragile artefacts.

If you turn up the sound on the video, you can hear a little crackling sound.

If we followed every regulation, we'd never get anything done.

My people are very careful. Our last injury was 12 years ago when a guy tripped on some stairs.

On a sunny day (Fri, 12 Mar 2021 08:41:06 -0800) it happened John Larkin snipped-for-privacy@highlandtechnology.com wrote in snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I hear that, but is that not the aiming system?

You wouldn't use ZnSe with a YAG laser. Glass works fine at 1.06 microns.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

It's worth giving folks an eye exam before they start working with the laser. That makes it much harder for some ambulance chaser to blame his client's eye problems on you.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

As one datapoint, Sherline in Vista CA has theirs in a separate room.

They use it to burn serial numbers and dial graduations into mini machine tools.

... and *after* -- at Marconi there was an eye-exam plus Laser Safety Training before your access swipe-card was upgraded to allow you into the lab areas where Photonics laser work took place.

There was an *exit* exam too, to compare any changes vs. the first one!

Although if you run a high powered class 4 laser running in the middle of a workshop without taking any precautions to protect your employees they might well have a good case.

Only if they actually get injured by that laser, which is the point.

I'd certainly have heavy rubber curtains (with interlocks) all round it.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

IBM did that too. They forgot to give me an exit exam though--I was about the last laser guy in the place.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

"Last one out please turn off the lasers" :)