掺氢与激励电路对钡蒸气激光输出特性的影响

对用Blumlein电路放电激励的钡蒸气激光在掺氢和不掺氢时的输出特性进行了实验研究.结果表明，用掺氢1.5%的氖气作缓冲气体能使激光功率增加近2倍.在此基础上，进一步比较了相互作用电路与Blumlein电路时钡蒸气激光的输出特性，发现相互作用电路能显著提高钡蒸气激光的输出功率和效率，获得了3W最大功率和0.4%效率的1.5μm波长激光输出.测量并分析了各工作参量与激光功率之间的关系，定性解释了掺氢与相互作用电路的作用机理 . 关键词： Blumlein电路 相互作用电路 掺氢 钡蒸气激光     

Optimization of the UV CuII laser

The cw output power of the uv CuII laser has been optimized with respect to the hollow cathode geometry, the discharge current, the fill gas pressure and the resonator mirror parameters. A maximum laser output power of 900 mW for multiline operation at 248.6, 259.1, 260.0, and 270.3 nm was achieved with 100 A discharge current, 260 V voltage and 16 mbar fillgas pressure, when a hollow cathode of 1.2 m length and 2×6 mm² cross section was employed. The single-pass pain gl has been estimated to 7%. A hollow cathode cross section of 1.5×4.5 mm² is suggested as an optimum geometry. In addition, some investigations on the mechanism of the laser power decay in Ne–Cu-discharges are presented.     

High power operation of a CW 28 μm water vapor laser

This paper describes the best operating conditions and power performance of a CW 28 μm water vapor laser, using a 3 m long discharge in a 3 cm diameter Pyrex glass tube. The laser cavity is a half symmetric conventional Fabry-Perot resonator, the plane mirror of which is a metal mesh used as an output coupler. The addition of a large amount of hydrogen to the water vapor leads to the production of high power laser emission. This laser delivers 230 mW of continuous output at 28 μm, corresponding to a volumetric power of 102 μW/cm³, the highest value ever reported.     

A cw uv copper hollow cathode laser in the 260 nm region

A cw uv copper hollow cathode laser is described, which could be operated for a longer time duration with an output power of 7 mW in the 260 nm region. A double-cathode configuration with a protection for the mirrors from metal-vapour deposition is presented. Characteristics of the laser output power, the spontaneous emission, and the ion densities in the negative glow were measured as depending on the discharge current, the neon gas pressure, and the size of the cathode slit. The observed saturation of the laser output power at high discharge current (1 A/cm²) and the optimum slot size are discussed.     

Generation of a uniform high-density microwave plasma for CO2 lasers using orthogonal electric fields

To realize a CO₂ laser using a fast-axial-flow high-output-power microwave discharge excitation, we devised a technology for making the microwave discharge uniform by varying the oscillation direction of an electric field with time. We also verified the effectiveness of this technology. As a result, we succeeded in increasing the discharge uniformity to 70% of the laser-tube cross-sectional area and realized a high laser output power and a high laser efficiency. In the case of a microwave input power of 1450 W, a maximum laser output power of 273 W and a laser efficiency of 18.8% were achieved; in the case of a microwave input power of 1070 W, a laser output power of 214 W and a laser efficiency of 20.0% were achieved. At the time of maximum output power, a high input power density of 280 W/cm³, which is approximately 20 times that in a dc discharge method, was achieved. Thus, a high-output-power microwave-discharge-excited CO₂ laser has become feasible. PACS 42.60.By; 52.80.Pi     

电泳式He-Sr+复合激光特性研究

设计制作了7mm内径和38cm有效激励长度的电泳式He-Sr⁺激光管,采用修饰Blumlein电路,通过纵向高重复率脉冲放电激励,实现了一价锶离子复合激光430.5nm和R-M跃迁激光1.03μm的同时振荡,其中复合激光占主要成分.测量分析了复合激光输出功率与工作参量(脉冲频率,充电电源电压和氦压)的关系曲线.获得了最大激光功率819mW和56mW/cm³功率密度的实验结果. 关键词： 锶离子激光 电泳 脉冲放电     

Laser capabilities of CuBr mixture excited by RF discharge

Our investigations demonstrated that utilizing copper bromide (CuBr) mixture as a source of Cu atoms in a RF-excited discharge can be a promising alternative to the Cu sputtered system, when the development of Cu ion gas laser is considered. Both spectroscopic and laser investigations showed that the threshold input power for lasing was reduced about 5 times using the CuBr-based system instead of the Cu-sputtered system. Pulsed and CW laser oscillation on Cu⁺ transitions in the near IR spectral region was obtained in RF-excited He-CuBr discharge operated at 13.56 MHz and 27.12 MHz. At input RF power of 800 W, a laser output power of 10 mW at the 780.8 nm Cu ion laser line was achieved. An increase of laser output power by a factor of two, as well as better Cu vapour axial distribution and better discharge stability, was attained when DC discharge was superimposed on the RF discharge. Laser gain on 11 UV Cu ion lines was observed in RF-excited Ne-CuBr discharge. basing on the obtained results, we consider the CuBr laser system excited by RF discharge capable of generating UV laser radiation at relatively low input power. Received 4 January 1999     

High efficient Tm3+ doped double cladding silica fiber laser with an intracavity biconical taper

A high efficient LD (laser diode) pumped Tm³⁺ doped double clad silica fiber laser with an intravacity biconical taper was reported. A biconical taper located ～3 cm from the output end of the fiber laser was fabricated by heating and stretching method with a length 1.5 cm and waist diameter ～20 µm. The slope efficiency was 49.8% with respected to the launched pump power, and the maximum output power was 1.97 W. Pre and post output laser power ratio was ～10. This fiber laser was compared with other three biconical tapered fiber lasers (the same fiber with different tapers) and a uniform geometry fiber laser. With intracavity biconical tapers, fiber lasers’ thresholds were ～1 W higher than the fiber laser without the taper (1.97 W). The pump end’s slope efficiencies of fiber lasers with tapers were 3–5% in contrast with 37.6% of the uniform one. After tapered, the pre and post laser power ratios were much higher than the un-tapered one’s, but not changed much with the launched pump power.     

Output characteristics of a cataphoresis He–Sr recombination laser

A cataphoresis discharge tube of 7 mm inner diameter and 38 cm active length was designed and made for the He–Sr⁺ laser. The cataphoretic input of uniform distribution of strontium vapor concentrations along the active region was realized by the cataphoresis effect and the slow flowing (0.5 nl/h) of helium buffer gas. The strontium ionic recombination laser at 430.5 nm and the R–M transition laser at 1.03 μm were obtained with the modified Blumlein circuit by high-frequency longitudinal pulsed discharge. The laser components are concentrated on the 430.5 nm wavelength. Dependences of working parameters such as the pulse frequency, the supply voltage, and the helium pressure on laser output characteristics were measured and discussed. The maximum laser output power of 819 mW and specific power of 56 mW/cm³ were obtained, respectively.     

A gold-vapor laser using Ne-H2 as buffer gas

A small amount of hydrogen was added to neon buffer gas in a discharge-heated gold vapor laser. It was found that the output power and efficiency of the gold-vapor laser dramatically increased. The average output power and efficiency increased as much as 60%, when 0.5–1.0 Torr of hydrogen was added to neon. Maximum average power of 8 W was obtained using a plasma tube with 30 mm^00D8×100 cm active volume.     

CW HCN laser gain in a hollow dielectric rectangular cross-section discharge tube

This paper describes a 1 m-long CW HCN discharge laser with a hollow dielectric rectangular discharge tube of 5×20 cm² cross-section. For optimum working conditions, the characteristics of the amplifying medium have been made constant over the cross-section, by using an additional magnetic field. Then, the unsaturated gain for the 337 μm line is 6.8% m⁻¹. It is shown to be dependent on the smaller dimension of the cross-section rather than on the other dimension. By using the tube as a waveguide, laser output power of 1 Watt might be obtained with a discharge length of 4 m, instead of the 12m-long discharge required to get the same output power from a cylindrical waveguide laser.     

Modeling the plasma kinetics mechanisms of CuBr laser with neon–hydrogen additives

A mathematical model describing the discharge kinetics and lasing characteristics of copper bromide vapor laser with neon and hydrogen additives has been developed. The suggested model is based on a “zero-dimensional” model and offers simple mechanisms to explain discharge kinetics mechanisms, different physical processes and hydrogen additive effects on the copper bromide vapor laser.The model estimates the temporal evolution of discharge voltage and current, population densities, laser beam density, electron temperature and radial distribution of pressure and buffer gas temperature. The suggested mechanism assumes that the electron detachment from negative hydrogen ions does not contribute to the copper ionization process.Numerical solutions of a nonlinear rate equation system predict the generation of nanosecond pulses. The calculated maximum values of discharge voltage, current, average output laser power, electron temperature, etc. are in good agreement with other reported calculated and experimental data.     

Performance improvement of an x-ray preionized XeCl laser of very small discharge volume

Increasing the preionization electron density is found to be an effective method for improving the output performance of discharge-pumped excimer lasers at high gas pressures when the power-supply voltage becomes a limiting factor. In a small volume (2 cm³), x-ray preionized discharge, orders of magnitude improvement in XeCl laser power output (up to 400 kW) and pulse energy (up to 26 mJ) over previously reported results have been found possible using this method. Modifications to the low energy x-ray source and discharge system leading to these improvements are described. Various laser output characteristics are also presented and discussed.     

Investigation of the spectral content of a cw CO laser output using a high-resolution scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer

The use of a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer of variable length (variable resolution) for investigating the output of a cw CO laser is reported. Under experimental conditions required to achieve maximum power it was found that the laser output consisted of two or more simultaneously occuring transitions due to the overlapping nature of the vibration- rotation bands. The frequency differences between these transitions were measured to an accuracy of 0.01 cm^-1. Operation of the CO laser on a single vibration-rotation transition was obtained by controlling the laser gain with the experimental variables of discharge pressure, gas temperature, and optical alignment. An alternative approach of obtaining monochromatic radiation, by using a Fabry-Perot interferometer as a frequency selective filter external to the CO laser, is reported.     

Interaction of tea CO2 laser light with plasma

High power double discharge type TEA CO₂ laser was used to study laser plasma interaction on carbon target plasma. The maximum output power was 0.3 GW and full width at half maximum intensity was 100 ns. We measured the reflectivity of the laser light at 10.6 μm in wavelength from the carbon plasma. The reflectivity showed a maximum (≈56%) at the laser power intensity of about 1.1 x 10¹⁰ W/cm², and at above this value, the reflectivity decreased. The absorption was introduced effectively above this intensity. The electron density and temperature were also measured.     

全内腔可调谐CO2激光器

研制了一台用光栅选支,压电驱动改变腔长的连续CO₂调频激光器。采用全内腔结构,四电极放电。在腔长为2m、放电长度为1.5m的条件下,获得稳定激光输出。输出激光谱线80条以上,最强单线输出功率50 W,单线调谐宽度70 MHz。     

Output parameters and a spectral study of UV Cu Ne–CuBr laser

A comparative study on the temporal behaviour of the average output power of UV Cu⁺ laser with quartz and ceramic inserts is reported. Spectral investigations of the discharge are also made. The use of quartz inserts leads to some impurities introduction into the gas mixture and to an average output power reduction from 500 to 30 mW at multiline output (248.6, 252.9, 260.0 and 270.3 nm) for UV lasing of 25 h. The utilization of ceramic inserts allows to maintain relatively constant gas mixture composition and average output power of about 300 mW for 100-h.     

高重复率铜蒸汽激光的充氢机制

通过数值求解时空自洽的铜蒸汽激光动力学方程，详细研究了铜激光的充氢机制．少量充氢提高激光功率的原因是：1）氢具有的大热导率使管壁温度升高，铜粒子数密度增加；2）充氢增加了电子与氢的动量输运碰撞，使放电电流减小．当电源功率一定时，闸流管的功率损耗减小，输入激光管的功率增大．此外，充氢过多（大于（1—2）%氖），通过电子碰撞激发氢分子振动能级，使电子温度和电子密度下降较大，电子没有足够的能量密度激励激光能级，导致激光功率下降 关键词：     

UV-CuII-laser with cylindrical hollow cathodes

The UV-performance of a CuII-laser with cylindrical hollow cathodes has been investigated. The output power was measured in dependence of the neon pressure and the discharge current. By disconnecting cathode segments from the power supply, the active discharge length could be varied and the threshold and saturation currents were determined in dependence of the length of the active medium. The lowest threshold current amounted to 7 A. The laser emission saturates at current densities of 0.4 A/cm².     

Design considerations and scaling laws for high power convective cooled CW CO2 lasers

Various criteria for designing high power convective cooled CO₂ lasers have been discussed. Considering the saturation intensity, optical damage threshold of the optical resonator components and the small-signal gain, the scaling laws for designing high power CW CO₂ lasers have been established. In transverse flow CO₂ lasers having discharge of square cross-section, the discharge lengthL and its widthW for a specific laser powerP (Watt) and gas flow velocityV (cm/s) can be given byL = 1.4 x 10⁴ p ^1/2 V ^-1 cms andW = 0.04P ^1/2 cms. The optimum transmitivity of the output coupler is found to be almost constant (about 60%), independent of the small signal gain and laser power. In fast axial flow CO₂ lasers the gas flow should be divided into several discharge tubes to maintain the flow velocity within sonic limit. The discharge length in this type of laser does not depend explicitly on the laser power, instead it depends on the input power density in the discharge and the gas flow velocity. Various considerations for ensuring better laser beam quality are also discussed.