Home-made Laser
date: label: Date made
content: 1979
name: label: maker
content: Helm, Ebe
notes: label: Description
content: This carbon-dioxide gas laser was assembled and operated in 1979 by teenager Ebe Helm in the basement of his parent's New Jersey home. As Helm told museum staff, "The laser operated at 9000 volts, 120 milliamps, on alternating current. Because my gas supply was very limited, it functioned as a static, non-flowing gas laser. It did not function at the expected pressure of 4-10 torr, but only above 60 torr, well off the range of the vacuum gage I was using. The target is a building block donated from the nursery school that my mother operated from our home."
label: Description
content: Mr. Helm donated this and other lasers to the Smithsonian in 2005.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Laser
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Energy & Power
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content: Lasers
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Ebe Helm
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0034.02
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0034.02
label: accession number
content: 2005.0034
objectType: label: Object Name
content: laser
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (target material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 cm x 13 cm x 61.5 cm; 7 1/16 in x 5 1/8 in x 24 3/16 in