The accepted method for aligning a laser mirror on an adjustable stage such as the mirror we used outside of the He-Ne tube is to centre the brightest point of the light emitted from the tube in the mirror.  Then, the mirror is rotated in the left-right direction until the centre of the reflected light is roughly lined up with the emitting end of the tube.  The left-right adjustment is then slowly incremented and the mirror is rocked up and down at each increment until, during rocking, a bright spot is seen indicating lasing.  The knobs can then be fine-tuned to optimize on this point.

We modified this method slightly, turning it into a two person effort.  While one individual slowly adjusted the left-right angle, the other would continuously rock the mirror.  Singing "lase, lase, lase..." to the Meow Mix cat food theme would quickly result in successful alignment.  If the laser gives you trouble, just sing to it.

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