We support Tsunami, Mai Tai, Millennia, Spitfire, Solstice, Spirit, InSight, Empower and Quanta-Ray platforms, both the open-cavity oscillators and the sealed integrated systems. Call us when a system is out of warranty or out of support. You get written findings before any repair, and nothing is repaired without your written approval.
Spectra-Physics has supplied research laboratories since 1961 and is now part of MKS Instruments. The Tsunami, Mai Tai, Millennia and Spitfire families have been installed in US laboratories for decades, and a substantial part of that hardware is now outside its original service agreement.
These systems are frequently central to the experiment they were bought for. A Tsunami pumped by a Millennia driving a transient absorption setup, or a Mai Tai on a multiphoton microscope, is not a box that can be swapped for a current product without redesigning the measurement around it. That is why repairing the instrument you own is often the only option that fits the science.
We evaluate these platforms as complete systems, pump included, localize the fault by measurement, report in writing, and repair what you approve.
We provide independent service and repair support for the families below. What a specific system needs is settled by its configuration, its parts access and the measurements the project requires, and we confirm that with you before anything ships.
Send us your configuration and we will confirm the scope. On these platforms the pump pairing, the controller and software revision and whether the oscillator is open-cavity or sealed matter more than the family name, and we settle both at the enquiry stage rather than after you have paid to crate the system.
The Spectra-Physics scientific range splits into two service categories that have almost nothing in common operationally, and knowing which one you have tells you most of what to expect.
| Open-cavity, externally pumped | Sealed, integrated | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Tsunami with Millennia, Spitfire and Solstice amplifiers, 3900, legacy dye | Mai Tai, InSight X3, Spirit, Talon, Explorer |
| Pump | Separate product, separately serviceable, separately aged | Inside the enclosure, characterized indirectly |
| What can be recovered | Cavity alignment, dispersion, mode matching, pump coupling, compressor geometry | Electronics, thermal control, feedback paths, interfaces, external optics |
| Main risk in service | Losing a working alignment that took someone a long time to establish | Opening an assembly whose alignment is destroyed by opening it |
| First measurement | Pump power and beam condition at the oscillator input | Whether commanded current produces actual current, and what the system is really emitting |
| Our position | We document the as-found alignment before touching anything | We tell you what opening it would cost and what it risks, before we open it |
This distinction is why we ask which model you have before discussing anything else. A Tsunami question and a Mai Tai question with identical symptoms are two different jobs.
A frequent cause of a Tsunami or Spitfire that has stopped performing, and and easy to overlook because the pump display can look correct. Measured at the oscillator or amplifier input, not at the pump.
On the open-cavity platforms, drift after a move, thermal cycling or a previous intervention. Recoverable, and worth documenting before anything is adjusted.
Prism pairs and compensating optics in the oscillator, and the stretcher and compressor pairing in amplified systems. Determines pulse duration and degrades silently.
In Spitfire and Solstice, switch-in and switch-out timing decides whether a pulse is amplified at all. Collapsed pulse energy with a normal repetition rate points here.
Grating damage and separation drift, producing correct average power with an unusable pulse duration.
On Mai Tai DeepSee and InSight DeepSee, the compensation module and its motorized stages, which affect delivered pulse duration at the sample without changing any power reading.
Surface damage from a previous overdrive event, and years of deposits. Progressive, and easy to attribute elsewhere.
Chillers, flow rates, TEC loops and temperature sensors. Presents as pointing drift, mode degradation or a silent power limit.
Diode drivers, pump current controllers, aging supplies, monitor photodiode and feedback paths, interlock chains, motorized stages and the software path.
A different technology with different economics. Lamps and rods are obtainable; PFN, Q-switch driver and HV supply availability varies by generation and is checked before any commitment.
Send the model, a photograph of the product label and the symptoms. We review it and respond with the next step.
Every job runs on a written scope. The order below exists to eliminate a branch cheaply before the next, more invasive step is justified.
Every engagement names its measurements before it starts. PhaseX defines and provides the measurement capability the project requires. Depending on the system and the question being answered, that is owned, rented or qualified third-party measurement resources arranged as required. The evaluation proposal states which measurements will be made, by what method, and where each one comes from, together with the acceptance criteria the work is judged against.
| Measurement | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Drive current against command | Whether a commanded setpoint reaches the driver and produces real current, which separates a control-path fault from an optical one |
| Supply, rail and protection behavior | Rail integrity under load, sequencing, and protection states that cap output without reporting anything |
| Timing, trigger and switching | Trigger and synchronization paths, driver and Pockels cell switching, and pulse-train structure |
| Optical power and pulse energy by wavelength | Real output at each wavelength on a defined and terminated path, with the detector, wavelength response, attenuation and measurement point stated |
| Optical pulse presence and repetition rate | Whether an optical pulse train exists at all, and its relationship to the trigger |
| Spectral condition | Emission wavelength and bandwidth, and confirmation that the light being measured is the light assumed |
| Beam and mode condition | Spatial condition of the output, and evidence of optic, fiber or alignment damage in the delivery path |
| Thermal behavior under load | Cooling loops, TEC and oven control, and thermal derating that presents as a silent power limit |
| Pulse duration and beam quality | Specified where the project requires it, and performed with the measurement resource identified in the proposal |
In-house instrumentation currently includes a RIGOL MHO984 oscilloscope and a Joulescope JS320 for electrical, current, timing and pulse-train work. Optical metrology is specified per project and provided through owned, rented or qualified third-party measurement resources arranged as required and named in the proposal. We do not publish an equipment inventory in place of a measurement plan, and we do not offer manufacturer-equivalent calibration or certification to original published specifications where the original acceptance data and the corresponding standards are unavailable.
MKS does not publish a consolidated end-of-support list for the Spectra-Physics scientific range, so laboratories generally learn a platform's status by requesting a quotation. Catalog absence is the practical indicator, and it already covers a substantial part of the installed base: the legacy ion and dye platforms, the 3900, Hurricane, and older Quanta-Ray generations are no longer current products while remaining in daily use.
Our position is the same as on any orphaned instrument. The fault is frequently in a driver, a supply, thermal control, a feedback path, the mechanics or the control electronics, and that is work we do at component level. What ends a repair is a failed custom assembly with no available substitute.
The general treatment, including substitution and retrofit, is on the obsolete scientific laser support page.
We do not hold a Spectra-Physics or MKS spare-parts channel and we do not supply original factory modules. Repair on these platforms is component-level engineering with functionally equivalent substitution where an original part no longer exists, and every substitution is documented as a deviation from original design.
A system that cannot be brought to its normal operating state on the bench cannot be diagnosed. For bench evaluation we normally need:
On discontinued platforms the customer's own paperwork is frequently the only surviving record of the configuration. Send it even when it looks irrelevant.
We receive systems from outside the United States, including from Canadian universities and research institutes. We provide the commercial documentation a repair shipment normally requires and coordinate with your shipping office. Customs classification, duties, temporary import treatment and clearance timing remain the sender's responsibility, and we do not give customs guarantees. Insurance is the sender's decision and should reflect replacement value. We document the as-received condition on arrival, which is the evidence you would need if transit damage has occurred.
We are direct about the work we take on, so we are equally direct about the two boundaries.
If your system is still inside its manufacturer warranty, use the manufacturer, or get written authorization from the seller first. Our work is out-of-warranty and legacy equipment, which is where the support gap sits in any case.
Class 4 work is planned and executed under a project-specific laser safety plan. The required engineering controls, personal protective equipment, beam management and facility conditions are defined in writing before any energized optical work begins, and the infrastructure that plan calls for is provided within the project scope. Where a laboratory's own controls are involved, final hazard analysis and approval stay with the institution's LSO or EHS function.
PhaseX Laser Services is an independent third-party service provider, not affiliated with or authorized by any manufacturer named on this page unless expressly stated in writing. Brand and model names identify equipment only.
Manufacturer material used for platform and family identification on this page. Where our reading of a document differs from the configuration in front of us, the physical equipment governs.
A Tsunami question and a Mai Tai question with the same symptoms are two different jobs, and on the open-cavity platforms the pump reading at the oscillator input can resolve a complaint before anything ships. Send label photographs of every box in the set.
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