More on the laser, since such has consumed most of my life again

The autocorrelator was agreeable to alignment, which was very nice of it. The only problem now is that the signal (which I can see, so I know it's there) is so weak that I don't think that the PMT can tell it from the random noise of the room. There are a few different reasons why this could be, some of them happier than others. I'm fairly sure that this just means that the pulse is too long, and thus we are not only getting a little bit because it's long and squished, but we probably aren't at the peak either, where the two pulses arrive at the same time. My first attempt to get the width down didn't meet with resounding success, and the other idea involves the new lab person, and he isn't in today, so I am updating lab manuals and playing here as I watch the clock and try to figure out what else I could do that doesn't involve starting up the laser again.