Sam's Laser FAQ, Copyright © 1994-2023, Samuel M. Goldwasser, All Rights Reserved.
I may be contacted via the
Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page.

  • Go to Sam's Laser FAQ Table of Contents.
  • Back to Laser Equipment Gallery Lobby.

    Photos of Florod Corporation Pulsed Xenon Laser

    [Only about 3 people per decade visit the Laser Equipment Gallery ;-), the existing format is archaic, and I am lazy. So going forward, we will use the Windows App "Web Album Generator" for most of the collections.]

    Note: Most links open in a single new tab or window depending on your browser's settings.

    This is a Florod Corporation pulsed xenon laser head from a Florod LFA semiconductor wafer trimming system. The actual gas-fill was probably a combination of both xenon and helium. Searching for "Florod LFA Laser" will turn up photos of the complete system with the laser head, wafer stage, microscope, power supply. It apparently weighs in at 400 pounds, so needless to say, I don't have one. ;( ;-)

    The only specs I have (courtesy of Bob Hess) are: Xenon gas laser, 0.5 micron wavelength, 1 micro-second pulse duration, 2 pps rep rate, ambient air cooled."

    The laser head is quite simple using a narrow bore plasma tube with dual Brewster windows, stub side arms for the anode and cathode electrodes (neither of which appears to be anything special), and a large glass gas reservoir with a pair of getters which could be fired electrically, and not much else besides the gas. The getters are normally not connected to anything but 6 pins are available so each half-getter can be fired individually. On this sample, the tube appears to be up to air probably from leakage over 30 or so years; there are no obvious cracks or breaks. Too bad, from the getter material residue on the glass, it appears as though only one set was ever fired.

    A 0.5 µF energy storage capacitor probably rated at between 5 and 10 kV is charged directly from an external power supply. It wasn't possible to remove the capacitor to read its voltage rating; a capacitance meter was used to measure the uF. There doesn't appear to be any sort of pulse forming network. But there is a bleeder across the capacitor. ;-)

    The high voltage enters via a BNC cable while a separate multi-pin connector provides power and control for the trigger circuit. An SK3502 SCR drives a pulse transformer which has its output attached to a metallic coating on the plasma tube to trigger the laser to fire.

    And that's all of it. Not exactly a complex laser!

    The photos are courtesy of eBay seller: Surplus Savant Store (surplus_savant).


  • Back to Sam's Laser FAQ Table of Contents.
  • Back to Top of Florod Pulsed Xenon Laser Head Photos Page.


    Sam's Laser FAQ, Copyright © 1994-2023, Samuel M. Goldwasser, All Rights Reserved.
    I may be contacted via the
    Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Email Links Page.