Independent evaluation and repair engineering for the technology that ultrafast science was built on, and for the instruments that are still doing that work twenty and thirty years after they were installed. Pump, cavity, dispersion, mechanics and control, treated as one system.
Ti:Sapphire has been the backbone of ultrafast science since the early 1990s. Multiphoton microscopy, transient absorption spectroscopy, high-harmonic generation and attosecond work were all built on it, and many of the instruments bought for that work are twenty to thirty years old and still running.
Replacing one is rarely a like-for-like swap. A current fiber or ytterbium platform has different wavelength coverage, different tunability and different pulse characteristics, so replacing the source can mean redesigning the measurement around it. For a lot of groups, repairing what they own is the option that fits the science and the grant.
Ti:Sapphire responds well to that approach. It is an open-architecture technology: the cavity is accessible and the components are identifiable, which is what makes component-level engineering effective on it.
Titanium sapphire laser repair and mode-locked laser service on these platforms covers the oscillator, its pump as a separately serviceable product, the cavity and dispersion hardware, and the amplifier chain where one is fitted.
Lost pump power or degraded pump mode quality. The single most common cause of a system that will not mode-lock, and one that is easy to overlook because the pump's own display looks fine.
Drift after a move, after thermal cycling, or after a previous service intervention. Recoverable without replacing anything, once the correct condition has been found.
Prism pairs, chirped mirrors and compensating optics. Determines the shortest pulse the cavity can support, and degrades silently.
Mechanical starters and their drives wear out. A cavity that mode-locks when tapped and not otherwise is a starting problem, not a gain problem.
Surface damage from a previous overdrive event, and deposits from years in unfiltered laboratory air. Progressive, which is why it can be attributed to other causes first.
Water or TEC cooling of the crystal mount, flow rate, and temperature control. A thermal problem shows as pointing drift, mode degradation or reduced output, not as an alarm.
In regenerative amplifiers, switch-in and switch-out timing. A timing fault collapses pulse energy while repetition rate reads normal.
In amplified systems, grating damage and separation drift. Produces correct average power with a pulse duration nobody can use.
Monitor photodiodes, conditioning, converter stages, interlocks, motorized tuning stages and their encoders, and the software path.
Send the model, a photograph of the product label and the symptoms. We review it and respond with the next step.
A Ti:Sapphire oscillator's value is usually its tuning range, and a range that has narrowed is a specific diagnostic signal rather than general aging.
On amplified and OPO-pumped systems the tuning question extends downstream. A narrowed range at the experiment can originate in the oscillator, in the amplifier bandwidth, or in the conversion stage, and those are three different repairs. Measuring the spectrum at each interface is how they are separated.
Every job runs on a written scope. What that scope covers, what you receive at each point and who approves what are set out below, and nothing moves past your written approval.
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.
These are not Ti:sapphire systems. The Chameleon Discovery family uses an ytterbium laser with an optical parametric oscillator inside the head, and it is serviced under the ultrafast scope. See the femtosecond laser page.
OPO and OPA modules pumped by these systems are evaluated as part of the chain. See the OPO and OPA page.
Send us your configuration and we will confirm the scope. On these platforms the mirror set, the controller revision and the pump pairing matter more than the family name, and we settle both at the enquiry stage rather than after you have paid to crate the system.
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.
Mode-locking on a Ti:Sapphire oscillator depends on several systems at once: the pump laser and what it delivers into the crystal, the cavity, the intracavity dispersion balance, the starting mechanism and the crystal itself. Any one of them can stop a system that is otherwise healthy, which is why a single symptom does not identify the fault. All of those systems, and the pump as a separately serviceable product, are inside the evaluation scope. What you receive is written findings naming the subsystem the fault sits in, what was established, what remains unknown, and the repair options with their cost and risks.
That is a laboratory decision, and it usually turns on whether a current product actually fits the same experiment and on capital budget timing. What we can say is that the replacement is rarely a drop-in: a fiber or Yb system has different wavelength coverage, different tunability and different pulse characteristics. Many groups repair because the alternative is redesigning an experiment, not buying a box. We provide the diagnosis, the repair scope and the cost so the decision can be made on facts.
Yes, and they are covered as one engagement rather than two. Verdi, Millennia, Evolution, Empower and similar pump platforms are inside the scope alongside the oscillator they feed, because an oscillator and its pump are one installation from a service point of view even when they are two products on the bench.
Case by case. It depends on whether an equivalent crystal is obtainable, whether the mount and cooling can be reassembled to the required tolerance, and whether the cavity can be realigned to a working condition without factory alignment data. Where it is possible we quote it as a defined scope with the risks stated. Where it is not, we say so in writing rather than attempting it.
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.
On a Ti:Sapphire system, a pump reading and an oscillator reading taken at the right places often settle a mode-locking question early. Send whatever you have, with the model and serial label photographs, the tuning range you expect, and what the system does now.
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