The object consists of an aluminum stand cradling a glass dewar. At its top, the dewar is protected by a cylindrical aluminum cover. The cover is supported around its perimeter by three rods that are anchored to the aluminum base. Around its lower section, the dewar is surrounded by a high-voltage General Electric FT-524 helical flash tube. The flash tube sits in a socket surrounded by a plastic ring that houses three electrical leads.
Accession Number: 2014.ph.632
Alternative Name: Dewar
Wood, Glass, Plastic, Steel, Copper, Aluminum.
Etching on the glass: “General Electric FT – 524”; below, also etched: 65.
Height = 36.5 cm; width = 20 cm, Length = 20.
This apparatus was developed for the spectroscopic study of very cold substances.
It is uncertain what specifically this flash lamp was used for. However, in the early 1960s, Stoicheff and colleague Gary Hanes used such flash lamps at the NRC to study the optical emission of a pulsed laser using a ruby crystal immersed in liquid nitrogen. This famous experiment is cited below.
This artifact is intact and is in good condition. The surface of the aluminum components is slightly worn and oxidized in places
Associated Instruments: 2014.ph. 633
Some components from General Electric; likely built in physics department.
Date of Manufacture: c. 1960s.
This artifact is from a cache of instruments gathered by Dr. Stephen Morris from the office of Dr. Boris Stoicheff (1924-2011),
The artifact was likely used during Stoicheff’s time at the NRC.
Gary R. Hanes and Boris P. Stoicheff (1962) “Time-Dependence of the Frequency and Line-Width of the Optical Emission from a Pulsed Ruby Maser.” Nature (London) 195, no. 4841 (1962): 587–89.
Historical Notes:
- Donated to UTSIC