[Laser] Laser "guide star"

[Zack Widup]

Interesting.  Once upon a time (mid-70's) I was involved in a LIDAR 
project at the University of Illinois.  We were using a rhodamine-6G dye 
laser with the beam aimed through a trap door hole in the roof of the 
building to excite the D lines of sodium in the upper atmosphere.  A 
telescope with a Fresnel lens and a PMT was in a shed several hundred feet 
away.  The dye laser was excited with a flash tube and produced high-power 
pulses.

I never did go outside to see if the beam was visible.  I'd assume it was, 
though.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Mon, 1 Mar 2004, Brian Butler wrote:

> 
> I noticed an article at Spaceflight Now -
> 
> http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0402/29optics/
> 
> This is a 60 mile VISIBLE (sodium line: 589 nm) beam!
> Has anyone in or near San Jose seen this beam?
> Can we use it as a beacon or target for our amateur cloudbouce comms?
> Can we use it to "calibrate" our systems ... using the reflections from it
> to confirm our low-power system's reflections?
> Any other ideas?
> 
> VY1BB
> Brian Butler
> Whitehorse, Yukon
> Canada