a 100year He-Ne laser

[star882]

Here is an idea for a He-Ne laser that will last almost forever.
Instead of the electrodes inside the tube, the electrodes are on the outside.
A RF signal of about 1.6MHz at 20,000v is applied to the electrodes.
There is no sputtering, so it lasts much longer than normal tubes.
The glass is thicker to slow down helium migration.
Am I missing anything?

 

[The_LED_Museum]

They already have RF-excited HeNe (and other) lasers. I don't doubt they last longer than a regular HeNe, but the initial expense and upkeep negates that, especially considering you can often find HeNe tubes for $5 and $10 on the surplus market.

I haven't studied the chemical and physical aspects of RF-excited lasers, so I don't know how the components will hold up to long-term bombardment by RF radiation, or how long the HR and OC will remain at full integrity with all that high energy plasma swirling around in there.

 

[snakebite]

has anyone tried to store hene tubes in a pressurised container of helium?
at equal or maybe slightly higher pressure?
i understand the neon stays inside but the helium slowly diffuses through the glass.

 

[lux0]

"has anyone tried to store hene tubes in a pressurised container of helium?"

good point, but then the outer contianer would have to be made of something that can pass light.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I haven't stored them this way, but it is a known fact that one can rejuvenate a weak tube by putting it in a helium atmosphere for a week or so. This only works if the tube's only problem is helium diffusion. There's some info on Sam's laser faq about this, but I don't have a specific URL to offer.