The basics - this is a surplus laser head from the early rangefinder system on the M1 Abrams tank. It is a flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG solid-state laser. The YAG rod is about 4.5mm in diameter and 2.4" long. The original device operated with approximately 12 joules of pump energy. I replaced the flashlamp with a higher power one used typically for IPL hair-removal systems, also made the power supply to operate off a 12v AC wall-wart power unit. It is a simple 4-stage multiplier, the 12v ac is stepped up to 240v ac and applied to the multiplier stack. A zener diode stack acts as a regulator using surplus high-voltage high-power diodes. A simple trigger pulse generator using an SCR with a HV trigger coil. The main energy storage capacitor is 100uF, and the operating voltage is about 950v. Flashlamp pumping energy is now up to to around 54 joules.