Is Anyone Selling Optics For My First Holographic Table

indigital · Post by **indigital** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:20 pm

I'm building my first setup using "Homemade Holograms" by John Iovine and wanted to ask everyone here if anyone has any of the following available before I speculate exactly what I need at Anchor Optics, who are not too helpful. I am looking for:

-DCX or PCX in 9 and 12mm FL
-DCV in -8mm FL
-Beamsplitters in 9:1, 1:1, and 3:7 (or a cheap variable beamsplitter)
-3 spherical mirrors
-Cheap spatial filter (homemade is ok too)
-BB plates
-jd-4 developer

Because I am a beginner I am open to suggestions for sizes and focal lengths because the book isn't very comprehensive in this area. However, I am using the "Homemade Holograms" book and I will be following all the instructions in there.

Thanks,

Brandon

Jem · Post by **Jem** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:43 pm

Hi Brandon

Wherabouts in the world are you?

Jem

holorefugee · Post by **holorefugee** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:29 pm

Ebay has had lots of nice spatial filters lately.

erose · Post by **erose** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:25 pm

If you are really going home grown I would just start collecting lenses from garage sales & junk stores. Scavenge from stuff like old cameras, toys, microscopes, etc. If you really want specific stuff look at Edmund Optics.

holomaker · Post by **holomaker** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:49 pm

Jem wrote:Hi Brandon

Wherabouts in the world are you?

Jem

good question JEM !

indigital · Post by **indigital** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:24 pm

Thanks for all of your replies! I will definitely check out ebay for spatial filters, I actually got a large pack of front-surface mirrors from ebay and could trade some for other components that I have listed. Scavenging from used stuff sounds like a great idea but I'm not sure what to look for exactly. Since I am using John Iovines, "Homemade Holograms" as a reference, my supply list is very specific but I thought I'd try here before I bought directly from Anchor Optics since I've been told there are several people who have the hook-up and can offer good advice. Jem, I am in North Carolina near Raleigh.

jsfisher · Post by **jsfisher** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:45 pm

indigital wrote:I'm building my first setup using "Homemade Holograms" by John Iovine and wanted to ask everyone here if anyone has any of the following available before I speculate exactly what I need at Anchor Optics, who are not too helpful.

Don't pass over Anchor Optics too quickly. The experimenter grade lenses are more than suitable for your first setup. Be wary of their spherical mirrors, though, as some of them are second surface.

Discarded flat-bed scanners and laser printers are excellent sources of small front surface mirrors. You may also get a lens or two suitable for beam diversion from some. If your town, county, or city has a recycling program for electronics, you can probably score a few scanners and printers at no cost. If you run across an old projection TV, it will have a large front surface mirror in it. If you have any contacts at a local university or high schools, you may be able to snatch up a discarded old microscope or other optics.

Plate glass makes a fine 90:10 beam splitter. A piece of electrical tape will take care of the second reflection (off the rear surface).

Integraf is a fine source for plates and chemistry (although you may consider the PFG plates instead of BB since the former are a little less expensive).

Good luck finding an inexpensive spatial filter. The good ones on eBay are pricey; the cheaps ones aren't always real spatial filters.

erose · Post by **erose** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:58 am

For small lenses used to diverge the beams you just need to test them with your laser. See how much plate or object they cover at certain distances. It's nice to know the FL of each but that is not critical to doing the work.

Dinesh · Post by **Dinesh** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:56 pm

For what it's worth, you can always rig up lenses using common materials. If you can get two convex plastic surfaces, you can always make a water lens. Another way is to get two slab of transparent material (glass or plastic) and make a shallow dip in the centre of each. Join them together with a small hole at the top and pour water into the resulting hollow. You can sort of control the focal length by choosing an appropriate liquid (water, oil, spirits etc). With a little imagination all sorts of lens configurations are possible. In my early (and poorer!) days, I used a cocktail shaker as a cylindrical lens for rainbows. The trick was trying to get one with all the designs on the outside.

BB plates may not be your best choice. The emulsion has a very tiny grain size and the exposures are very, very long. In practice, you need to pre-sensitize them. Slavich may be a better emulsion to start with.

indigital · Post by **indigital** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 12:05 pm

Thanks Dinesh, I will have to do without a spatial filter and I wish spherical mirrors weren't so expensive but I have a decent budget to get an amateur table going. I actually just scored a great deal for a variable beamsplitter on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... _650wt_883 and I'm also getting some fuji film and Kodak D-19 developer from holokidd as well. Now all I need is a DCV lens with -8mm FL to build an interferometer, work through almost all of the chapter on single-beam holography and try out the simple split-beam reflection hologram setup in "Homemade Holograms" by John Iovine. Anchor Optics is selling an experimental grade 1 DCV lens with a dia of 11.5 mm for $9, is it o.k. that it has an anti-reflection or multiple coatings though?