Photos of Hewlett Packard/Agilent Helium-Neon Lasers

• Hewlett-Packard 5500A Helium-Neon Laser Interferometer (Gallery)

  HP (now Agilent) manufactures what is called a "Two-Frequency HeNe Laser" for use in their interferometry based measurement and calibration systems. There are several versions of these lasers including the 5500C, 5501A, 5501B, 5517A/B/C/D/E/F/G, 5518A, and 5519A (all shown below).

  The 5500A was the first such laser and along with the nearly identical 5500B, the only lasers to ever include interferometer optics and an optical receiver inside the laser head. The 5500A (and 5500B) is generally similar to the 5500C in construction and is in the same size case, but the laser tube is subtly different being the only one where the waste beam out the rear is used for locking.

  • View 01 - Left front view.

  • View 02 - Front closeup view. The laser beam exits the top hole while the return beam enters the bottom hole. The front ring may be rotated 90 degrees to use the small "alignment spertures". The back ring may be rotated 90 degrees in insert a polarizing beam-splitter into the receiver aperture to entirely block the unwanted F1 frequency component (I think!).

  • View 03 - Right back view.

  • View 04 - Back closeup view. The connector is for the 5525A Measurement Display.

  • View 05 - Left front interior view. The aluminum box is a shield (and protection) for the photodiodes and preamps associated with the REF and MEAS signals. Buried inside are the interferometer optics which include a pair of beamsplitters and cube-corner. The small green PCB has the drive transistors for either the HeNe laser power supply or PZT inverters (not sure which). The other set is buried under the tube. The inverter transformers and high voltage components are in metal-enclosed assemblies (possibly potted) under the HeNe laser tube. The fat red wire comes from the smaller metal can and goes to the PZT terminal at the back of the tube.

  • View 06 - Right back interior view. The HeNe laser tube can be seen with its output beam expander pointing through the hole in the aluminum optics/electronics enclosure. In this very early implementation, the waveplates are mounted separately external to the tube assembly. The fat red wire going to the tube assembly is for the anode via the vertially mounted ballast resistor. The brown wire is the cathode.

  • View 07 - Left side interior view.

  • View 08 - Right side interior view.

  • View 09 - Closeup view of run time (hour meter).

• Hewlett-Packard 5500B Helium-Neon Laser Interferometer (Gallery)

  The 5500B appears virtually identical to the 5500A and it is not clear what the differences are beyond the absense of an hour meter. :)

  • View 01 - Left front view.

  • View 02 - Front closeup view. The laser beam exits the top hole while the return beam enters the bottom hole. The front ring may be rotated 90 degrees to use the small "alignment spertures". The back ring may be rotated 90 degrees in insert a polarizing beam-splitter into the receiver aperture to entirely block the unwanted F1 frequency component (I think!).

  • View 03 - Right back view.

  • View 04 - Back closeup view. The connector is for the 5525A Measurement Display.

  • View 05 - Left front interior view. The aluminum box is a shield (and protection) for the photodiodes and preamps associated with the REF and MEAS signals. Buried inside are the interferometer optics which include a pair of beamsplitters and cube-corner. The small green PCB has the drive transistors for either the HeNe laser power supply or PZT inverters (not sure which). The other set is buried under the tube. The inverter transformers and high voltage components are in metal-enclosed assemblies (possibly potted) under the HeNe laser tube. The fat red wire comes from the smaller metal can and goes to the PZT terminal at the back of the tube.

  • View 06 - Right back interior view. The HeNe laser tube can be seen with its output beam expander pointing through the hole in the aluminum optics/electronics enclosure. In this very early implementation, the waveplates are mounted separately external to the tube assembly. The fat red wire going to the tube assembly is for the anode via the vertially mounted ballast resistor. The brown wire is the cathode.

  • View 07 - Left side interior view.

  • View 08 - Right side interior view.

  • View 09 - Closeup view of PCM where the time (hour meter) would go.

• Hewlett-Packard 5500C Helium-Neon Laser (Gallery)

  The 5500C was the second earliest of HP's interferometry lasers. The 5500A, above, is physically similar but had built-in interferometer optics and a very slightly different tube.

  • View 01 - Left front view.

  • View 02 - Front closeup view. The center hole is the laser out aperture. The "A" and "B" refer to the optical receiver channels so that a pair of measurement axes may be handled by the 5500C. Rotating the aperture wheel by 90 degrees enables the holes above or below to be used for the return beam.

  • View 03 - Right back view.

  • View 04 - Back closeup view. The wiring of the two connectors is not quite identical. When a single 5505A is used (single axis), it should be plugged into the right-hand (A) connector.

  • View 05 - Left front interior view. The aluminum box is a shield (and protection) for the three electronics boards for the beam sampler photodiodes and optical receivers. The large green PCB has the drive circuitry for the HeNe laser power supply and PZT inverters in this early sample of the 5500C. The inverter transformers and high voltage components are in metal-enclosed assemblies (possibly potted) under the HeNe laser tube. Later versions have this circuitry inside fully potted under the HeNe laser tube with the large green PCB in those lasers only being used for interconnects.

  • View 06 - Right back interior view. The HeNe laser tube can be seen with its output beam expander pointing through the hole in the aluminum optics/electronics enclosure. The fat red wire going to the tube assembly from the larger metal-cased HeNe laser power supply module is the anode with a ballast resistor in-line hidden underneath. The purple wire is the cathode. The shorter fat red wire from the smaller metal-cased PZT module goes to the PZT terminal at the back of the laser tube (hidden).

  • View 07 - Closeup of tube output and electronics. The PCB closest to the beam expander is the preamp for the beam sampler photodiodes. The PCB on the side is for the optical receivers. There is a similar PCB is on the other side of the laser.

  • View 08 - Closeup of two (of three) electronics PCBs.

  • View 09 - Closeup of the four optical receiver photodiodes (behind lenses).

• Hewlett-Packard 5501A Helium-Neon Laser (Gallery)

  The 5501A uses the same tubes as in the 5500C but is the first laser to appear in the small case, used for most subsequent HP/Agilent lasers which do not have a built-in optical receiver. (The exception is the 5517A, which also has a larger case.)

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view.

  Here are two view of the tube itself:

  • View 09 - Overall view of strange HeNe tube.
  • View 10 - End-view showing piezo electrode terminal.

• Hewlett-Packard 5501B Helium-Neon Laser (Gallery)

  The HP-5501B is a functional replacement for the 5501A but uses a different HeNe laser tube with thermal instead of PZT tuning, and thus different electronics. The tube is physically similar to the one in the HP-5517 lasers and other later model HP/Agilent lasers. A 5501B may be substituted for a 5501A as long as (1) the longer warmup can be accomodated and (2) the Diagnostic Connector on the 5501A is not used.

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Right back interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing control PCB.

• Hewlett-Packard 5517A Helium-Neon Laser Head and Accessories (Gallery)

  The 5517A was the first of the 5517 series of HP (and later, Agilent) metrology lasers. As of 2010, it is still orderable and supported. Unlike all that followed, it is in the funky large trapazoidal case. This may be because the 5518A (see below) is essentially identical with the addition of an optical receiver PCB at the front and additional optics in the turret.

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing the Type I Control PCB.

• Hewlett Packard 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The 5517D has the highest REF/split frequency and thus highest performance of any of the "standard" HP/Agilent lasers. But the onlydifference compared to the 5517B and 5517C is the Zeeman HeNe laser tube assebmly; everything else is identical. Thus, except for the tube part number and labels on the case and tube assembly, these photos apply to the HP-5517B and HP-5517C as well. And the tube assembly only differs internally. Its appearance is identical (except for part number) for the 5517B/C/D lasers.

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing the Type I Control PCB.

• Agilent 5517B Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The Agilent 5517B is typical of all the Agilent 5517 lasers made after 2002 or 2003. These include the 5517B, 5517C, and 5517D. They require external interferometer optics and an optical receiver for each axis. These have the Type II Control PCB. The cover shown is the flimsy sheet-metal shroud used on Agilent lasers, but they are otherwise identical to the end-user slightly more spiffy covers found on older HP lasers. Those with an "L" (e.g., 5517DL) have a vented cover (shroud) but are otherwise identical.

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Right back interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type II Control PCB.

• Agilent 5517C Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The only real difference for the 5517C photogenically, is the color of the front and back plates (sometimes). :)

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type II Control PCB.

• Agilent 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The 5517D is the highest performance "standard" HP (as well as Agilent) metrology laser. Photogenically, it is identical to the 5517B and 5517C except possibly for the color of the front and back plates. :) This particular sample has the Type III Control PCB, perhaps because it had a higher than standard REF frequency. But there's no reason why the Type II Control PCB, or even the original Type I Control PCB can't be used with the standard 5517D.

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type III Control PCB.

• Agilent 5517E Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  For most of the 21st century, the HP/Agilent 5517E was not documented anywhere in the Universe except Sam's Laser FAQ! However, as of 2014, it is listed in various Agilent documents. The most significant visible difference compared to most 5517B/C/Ds is a slightly shorter HeNe laser tube assembly. (However, late model 5517B/C/Ds now are appearing with the Short tube as well.)

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Right back interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type III Control PCB.

• Agilent 5517FL Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The 5517F/FL is almost identical to the 5517E but has a higher REF frequency spec. (The "L" means among other things that the laser is in a vented case as shown. I don't know if there is or ever was a 5517F.) This one has a Type III Control PCB, but others may not. And the 5517GL is physically identical to the 5517FL, so being lazy, I have decided not to add it here. ;-)

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Right back interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type III Digital Control PCB.

• Keysight 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  This is a late model (2014) 5517D badged Keysight. The only significant difference compared to a standard HP or early Agilent 5517D is the use of the Short tube. And this one appears to have been cost reduced since (1) the protective plastic cover on the rear of the tube is thinner, (2) the useless trim-pot on the Connector PCB is no longer present, and (3) the aluminum parts are either bare or clear coated and no longer Alodined (goldish chromate coating). Can you believe that the bean counters at Keysight might have saved $1 on a $10,000 laser? And, the reference to the Patlex patent on the tube label is gone. ;-)

  • View 01 - Left front view.
  • View 02 - Front plate view.
  • View 03 - Right back view.
  • View 04 - Back plate view.
  • View 05 - Left front interior view.
  • View 06 - Left side interior view showing Zeeman HeNe laser tube assembly.
  • View 07 - Back right interior view.
  • View 08 - Right side interior view showing Type III Control PCB.
  • View 09 - Closeup of tube label and wiring view.
  • View 10 - Closeup of Connector PCB view.

• Hewlett-Packard 5518A Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The HP/Agilent 5518A laser is very similar to the 5517A in terms of case style, but include an optical receiver for the return beam from an interferometer. This allows the 5518A to be used stand-alone without any other optical receiver, only the measurement electronics and DC power supply. A 5517A can be converted into a 5518A by adding the optical receiver PCB and replacing the turret/aperture wheel. The particular 5518A that posed for these photos is the original version which (like the 5517A at the time) had heatsink fins on the tube assembly that poked out the top of the case. Within a very short time, these were found to be unnecessary and eliminated - on some samples by being literally sawed or milled off the casting!

  • View 01 - Front view.
  • View 02 - Back view.
  • View 03 - Front view with cover removed.
  • View 04 - Back view with cover removed.
  • View 05 - Right side view showing Control PCB.
  • View 06 - Left side view showing DC and HeNe laser power supplies.

• Hewlett-Packard 5519 Helium-Neon Laser Head (Gallery)

  The HP/Agilent 5519A and 5519B lasers are very similar to the 5517A in terms of case style, but like the 5518A, include an optical receiver for the return beam from an interferometer. This allows the 5519A/B to be used stand-alone without any other optical receiver, only the measurement electronics. In fact, the 5519A/B are the only of these lasers to include an internal DC power supply so they plug into a normal AC outlet instead of requiring a separate DC power supply.

  • View 01 - Front view.
  • View 02 - Back view.
  • View 03 - Front view with cover removed.
  • View 04 - Back view with cover removed.
  • View 05 - Right side view showing Control PCB.
  • View 06 - Left side view showing DC and HeNe laser power supplies.
  • View 07 - Top view.

• Agilent Z4203P High Split Fiber Laser Source (Gallery)

  The Z4203P (and other Z4203-series systems) are unique for Agilent (now Keysight) in using a pair of Acousto-Optic Modulators (AOMs) to provide a very high split (REF) frequency from a tube similar to those used in 5517 lasers. The Z4203 enables greater stage speeds than are possible with even the 5517GL, the conventional two-frequency laser with the higher REF frequency.

  (These photos courtesy of eBay seller kakkisung-6.)

  • View 01 - Front view showing shutter controls for the two outputs (below).

  • View 02 - Back view (below).

  • View 03 - Unerneath view. The two output beams exit from the circular apertures at the right, a cooling port is in the middle, and the electrical connectors are at the left.

  • View 04 - Left interior view. The beam steering optics and AOMs are at the left; the N1211A tube and beam sampler at the right with the 3 PCBs behind.

  • View 05 - Left side tube view. The N1211A is similar to a 5517A tube but with an output beam diameter of only 1 or 2 mm and a somewhat lower split frequency.

  • View 06 - Right side tube closeup view.

  • View 07 - Right side PCB view. There are 3 boards, none of which appear to be similar to any of those found in the standard HP/Agilent 5517 (or 5501) lasers.

  • View 08 - HeNe power supply view.

  • View 09 - Optics bay view 1. A polarizing beam-splitter separates the f1 and f2 components of the laser output, which fed through individual Crystal Technology AOMs to shift their optical frequency. The strange devices that look like shock absorbers are probably just funky adjustable mounts for beam-splitters or turning mirrors.

  • View 10 - Optics bay view 2.

  • View 11 - Optics bay view 3.

Hewlett-Packard 5500A Helium-Neon Laser Interferometer

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Hewlett-Packard 5500B Helium-Neon Laser Interferometer

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Hewlett-Packard 5500C Helium-Neon Laser

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Hewlett-Packard 5501A Helium-Neon Laser

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Hewlett-Packard 5501B Helium-Neon Laser

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Hewlett-Packard 5517A Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Hewlett Packard 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent 5517B Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent 5517C Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent 5517E Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent 5517FL Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Keysight 5517D Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Hewlett-Packard 5518A Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Hewlett-Packard 5519 Helium-Neon Laser Head

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Agilent Z4203P High Split Fiber Laser Source

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