At the Control Panel
- Verify VISAR cage is in Class 1 Operation mode
- Verify the cover of the external output fiber enclosure is secured
- Verify Interlocks are “reset”
- Verify Laser shutters are closed
At the Electronics Rack:
- Switch on the seed laser. Verify the NKT seed laser is turned on and at the correct wavelength and power. These settings are never to be changed.
- Wavelength is 1064.452 and the power is 444mW
- On both PFN’s, turn each of the two key switches clockwise to the “on” position and then flip up (on) the circuit breakers of each.
- All front panel LEDs should be green. If any LED’s are red, turn the two breakers back off, rest a second and then flip them both back on. Repeat until all are green. Also verify the VISAR cage is in class 1 and all faults are cleared at the LSS control box.
- Verify the Power switch on the Programmable Laser Pulse Shaper is "on" and that the “Triggered” light is blinking, indicating a trigger is present. If the light is not blinking, enable 10Hz “VisarLas” in the Long Pulse Laser Operation control window as shown below.
At the Continuum Control Software and Laptop:
- Verify you have administrative control by going to “file” then “admin login. If “admin login” is greyed out, you are good. If not click “admin login”. Then click “login” as no password is required.
To start the laser:
- Press the “stop” button and then verify the “System Status” (bottom left) is illuminated green and the Waveform generator is “Online”. If the Waveform generator is illuminated red and displays “offline” try closing the program and reopening.
- Press the “stand-by” button. The water chiller should start to circulate.
- (You can verify water flow by observing the wall mounted flow meter. 1.1 gpm is the normal rate of flow.)
- Press “Flash” and the flashlamps should begin to run at 10Hz. Little lightning bolt icons now show up in the bottom right corner of each head pair shown on the display. The “Q-switch” button shall remain untouched and dark.
- Press the “shutter” button at the control software. This opens the internal laser shutter.
- Verify the mechanical output shutter is pulled up and “open”
- At the LSS press the “open shutter” button. Illuminated red is Open.
- With the LSS shutter closed, at the oscilloscope, you should see a pulse on Channel one and channel two. Channel one is the 1064nm and Channel 2 is the 532nm. When the LSS shutter is open, only channel 1 (1064nm) pulse shape will be seen on the scope display.
Example of output energy. This is dependent on the waveplate throttling, found inside the class 1 fiber delivery enclosure. The LSS shutter must be in the “open” position.
- To adjust output energy to the delivery fiber, toggle the “velocity” switch on the externally mounted ThorLabs controller pictured below.
- To adjust the frequency doubling: At the Continuum Laptop control software, click on the left doubler icon (doubler 1).
A window opens which then allows you to make the angular adjustments. You may need administrative privileges to have access to the doubling adjustment pop out window. You can increase the “step number” in the pop out window for a more coarse adjustment of the doubler.
- When finished, re-enable the “inhibit” of the DG645