# What is the wavelength of Argon Lasers?



## IsaacHayes (Nov 15, 2005)

Is it usualy 488nm? Or can it be a couple other wavelengths? And what does that look like exactly. I mean you could have a picture of a laser on the computer, but the digital camera might shift the color on you... Perhaps anyone with pics that are color corrected to be accurate?


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## The_LED_Museum (Nov 15, 2005)

The most common wavelength for single line TEM00 argon-ion iasers is 488nm.

A fairly decent representation of the beam color of a single-line TEM00 488nm laser beam is in this photograph:







The argon-ion laser is capable of producing approximately 10 wavelengths in the ultraviolet region and up to 25 in the visible region, ranging from 275nm to 363.8nm in the UV, and 408.9nm to 686.1nm in the visible, respectively.

In the visible spectrum, the 488nm and 514.5nm lines are most common.


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 16, 2005)

Craig, what part of the beam in that picture is most accurate of the color you see in real life? The very bottom of the beam, or up a little from that (more greener)?


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## pschlosser (Nov 16, 2005)

The part of the beam at the bottom of the pic on my monitor. That color will vary a little from display to display.

It is a pretty distinctive color, in real life. At least from gas tube Argon lasers. I had one once, a ~200mw. It was loads of fun. Came out of a photocopier from the late 70's. I seem to recall splitting a blue, green and yellow off that beam. One other, too, cannot recall its color.

I miss the good 'ol days.


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## jkaiser3000 (Nov 16, 2005)

I remember having worked with one a wihle ago. I had to use the 488nm line, but when i split the laser, i could see like 10 different lines. I remember dark blue, the 488nm, green, yellow and orange, but can't recall red though. It depends on the tube and the mixture inside, i think.


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## The_LED_Museum (Nov 16, 2005)

IsaacHayes said:


> Craig, what part of the beam in that picture is most accurate of the color you see in real life? The very bottom of the beam, or up a little from that (more greener)?


I think the very bottom of that photograph is more representative of the beam color than anywhere else. Computer monitor phosphors cannot accurately depict the color though, as it would require a mixture of the blue and green phosphors whereas the actual laser radiation is a monochromatic source at 488nm (a slightly greenish-blue or turquoise color).


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 16, 2005)

Ok, so is it *more this *in real life, or a little more bluer, or greener? (the pic above looks bluer)...

Oh and does any reflection/corona of the beam look more green when it lights up objects than the direct spot projected itself?

Trying to figure out what wavelength will still look this color, even if the light isn't focused tight (which seems to make it bluer...)


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 16, 2005)

Did some research in Hue vs Wavelength. Also noticed that if you go Sat 240, lum 120, and Hue at 120, and lower the lum (to simulate how the light would look reflected off dark objects, or at reduced intensity) you'll notice that it still looks blueish. Now if you lower the Hue to 116, and repeat lowering the lum, you will see that in the darker areas it looks greenish..

Interesting. I wonder what wavelength 120 Hue equals to?


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## The_LED_Museum (Nov 16, 2005)

I think it's a bit more blue than that cyan text.
Like I said earlier though, the phosphors in computer boob tubes, the CCD sensor of digital cameras, or the color dyes used in film camera film cannot accurately depict the color of the beam from a 488nm argon-ion laser.


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## IsaacHayes (Nov 16, 2005)

Hmm. I guess we need to use pantone color samples lol.

This monitor makes that cyan text look a little more blue. Probably just right. So I think I have a pretty good idea now. Plus with what I said in the last post, I think I've figured it out pretty good.. I'm starting to wonder how accurate Lumileds color measuring/binning is.... Hmm... Here goes to more research!

Thanks all.


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## PeterW (Feb 13, 2006)

You can run Ar+ lasers at the different laser lines mentioned. I used 488nm once (actually I was doubling it to 244nm, but plenty of 488nm leaked into the lab), as mentioned it is a cyan colour.

The other operation mode, not mentioned is 'multiline' for pumping other lasers, e.g. Ti-Sapphire etc. You get a nice 'rich' green colour, darker than the 'clinical' fresh green colour you get from doubled YAG lasers at 532nm. I preferred the old Ar+ green, though the newer DPSS lasers are more reliable and efficient to boot.

Cheers

PEterW


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