(21 May, 2011, ff)

Some time ago we were able to acquire, on eBay, an item that is clearly the head of a very small excimer laser. It has room for two preionizers; but when we got it, only one was present, and the other edge of the cathode had a white deposit on it that I was uneasy about.

           

(The deposit is not visible in these photos.)

For quite a while I didn’t do anything with this structure, but it has been on my mind a lot, and a few days ago I dragged it out and started thinking about it in earnest. I usually avoid commercial parts, but here was this very fine piece of equipment, lacking only a few capacitors, a switch, and some gas; and I do have a project or two in mind that could use it.

I have started to build a box for the head:

I have also made a new preionizer for it:

(I got some 5-mm borosilicate tubing on eBay. The vendor specified it as having 3.4-mm ID, but » Read the rest