Power Supply for the SSY-1 YAG Laser


Posted on Feb 5, 2014

The SSY-1 is a small pulsed Nd YAG laser originally used as part of the laser rangefinder in the M1 Abrams tank. The laser head and PFN-1 pulse forming network (flashlamp capacitor, inductor and diode) are readily available for under $250 as surplus on eBay and Meredith Instruments. For more information on the laser, a useful source of informatio


Power Supply for the SSY-1 YAG Laser
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n is Sam`s Laser FAQ. With the laser head and pulse forming network in hand, all that is left to have a complete working laser is a power supply to charge the capacitor in the pulse forming network, and a high voltage trigger for the flashlamp. The power supply here fulfills these two roles. With the exception of a few resistors and the trigger transformer, I built this entirely from scrap parts I had, so none of the components are particularly special and may be substituted with a similar component. The case and main power transformer were originally part of a pulsed argon laser, and the power transformer just happened to be ideal for this power supply, and the case worked nicely as well. I originally wanted to have everything except the laser head in one box, but this case was far to small for the pulse forming network to fit inside, so now it sits externally with the laser head. The high voltage regulator transistor Q3 was originally the horizontal output transistor in a monitor, and I chose this transistor because it was literally the first one I picked out of my transistor bin with a high enough voltage rating. Any NPN transistor with a voltage rating at or above 1200V that can handle a few hundred milliamps should do. The capacitor in the pulse forming network requires between 700-900VDC. This voltage is provided by rectifying the 700V winding of T1. Current limiting is provided by resistors R3-R5, and the voltage is...




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