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.     

Investigation of CW argon-ion laser discharge

A comprehensive experimental investigation was made of the insufficiently studied positive-column plasma of a high-current low-pressure discharge in argon, used as the active medium in a cw argon-ion laser. Optical, microwave, and probe methods of plasma diagnostics were used. A more sensitive method of photoelectric recording of the shifts of the spectral-line profiles was developed along with a new method of obtaining single-probe characteristics. Experimental values were obtained for the electric field, electron density, temperature, and directional velocities of the atoms, ions, and electrons as functions of the discharge conditions. A semiempirical calculation of a large number of internal plasma parameters was performed. Equations for the basic internal parameters as functions of the external parameters of the discharge are derived. It is shown that not all properties of the considered plasma are governed by thestrongly increasing roles of charge exchange and electron pressure. The positive column of the discharge in question is shown to obey a Boltzmann-invariant scaling law. The information obtained in this study on the discharge plasma is used to calculate the inversion density for an argon-ion laser. Good agreement with experiment is obtained.The article contains the dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Candidate of Physicomathematical Sciences. Guidance chairman — Doctor of Physicomathematical Science, Professor N. N. Sokolov. Dissertation defended December 18, 1978, at the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.Prior to 1980 the author used the name Yu. I. Osipov.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. N. Lebedeva AN SSSR, Vol. 145, pp. 3–78, 1984.     

Argon laser with wall stabilized transverse discharge

Planar and cylindrical discharges for argon lasers are compared by plasmatheoretical calculations. The maximum laser output power available in the two arrangements is computed in dependence of various parameters neglecting saturation mechanisms. A transverse discharge arrangement confining the positive column by two parallel walls is described and experimental laser threshold values for the current and pressure are reported.     

A magnetically stabilized coaxial laser discharge

A new magnetic discharge stabilization technique for coaxial laser systems is described. The approach utilizes crosses electric and magnetic fields to create and maintain a large and rapidly rotating plasma volume which does not experience glow-to-arc transitions. Very high cw specific discharge power loadings have been achieved even without the benefit of external gas cooling or circulation.Performance is insensitive to gas composition and pressure such that high power coaxial discharges have been run in CO₂ laser gas mixtures up to several hundred torr. Stable cw discharges have also been obtained in mixtures containing several torr of SF₆.The technique appears to be readily scalable to give very large excited volumes in systems with comparatively small overall physical dimensions.     

High-power diode-pumped Tm:YLF slab laser

A 2% Tm³⁺-doped LiYF₄(Tm:YLF) slab is double-end-pumped by two laser diode stacks. The pumped volume has a rectangular cross section. The Tm:YLF laser produced 148 W of continuos-wave output at 1912 nm in a beam with M _x ²≈199 and M _y ²≈1.7 for 554 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power was 32.6%, and the optical-to-optical efficiency was 26.7%.     

Performance studies of a pulsed HF laser with a sliding discharge plasma cathode

The plasma electrode design concept is applied for the first time to an HF laser. The discharge along the surface of a dielectric (sliding discharge) is used as a plasma cathode for the main laser discharge. The laser operates at atmospheric pressure with a gas mixture of He/SF₆/C₃H₈. Details are presented on the efficiency of energy transfer, the dependence of laser performance on circuit parameters, gas mixture, relative energy loading and time delay between the plasma electrode and main discharges. The F atom production rate is estimated from the linear dependence of the output energy on the electric charge passed through the discharge. Output energies of 600 mJ were obtained at 1.6% efficiency from a small active discharge of 108 cm₃ volume and 38 cm length, while the maximum specific input and output energies were 370 J/1 and 5.7 J/1, respectively. These values compare favourably with those reported in the literature for non-chain-reaction-type gas mixtures at 1 atm pressure and demonstrate that the plasma electrode design is a powerful scheme for developing gas-discharge lasers.     

Nitrogen related excitation processes in a mercury bromide laser discharge

The role of nitrogen as a buffer gas constituent in an avalance discharge mercury bromide laser has been examined, and it is shown that a change over in excitation from electron impact dissociation of HgBr₂ to energy transfer dissociation by excited nitrogen occurs at 1.5%N ₂. This is explanable in terms of excitation cross-sections if considerable pumping occurs from excited states of nitrogen which are higher in energy than the metastableA state. When excitation via nitrogen is dominant, a high dischargeE/N value is needed to avoid coupling of energy to unwanted vibrational excitation.     

A computer model of a transverse discharge cw CO laser

A kinetic model has been developed for the investigation of the novel performance of a CO laser, on which efficient extraction of laser power was obtained by exciting a subsonic gas mixture of CO/N₂/He/O₂ through transverse dc discharge. Kinetic equations for direct excitation by electron impact, V-V and V-R/T energy transfer, and stimulated emission are coupled with a semi-one-dimensional flow model. Careful consideration is devoted especially to the V-V transfer process of CO–N₂ and N₂–N₂. The laser power was calculated by a constant gain method. The laser output performance, examined as a function of gas mixture ratio, temperature, flow velocity, and discharge current, was in good agreement with the experiment.     

The effect of substituting metal vapour with metal halide vapour in a hollow cathode laser discharge

He−Zn and He−ZnCl₂ hollow cathode discharges were compared. The metal vapour concentration necessary for laser operation can be achieved at a lower temperature for the molecular substance. On the other hand, the efficiency decreases because part of the He ions necessary for the selective excitation of the upper laser level of the metal ion are lost in the dissociation process. This work was carried out under a contract with the Central Research Institute for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.     

High-pressure behaviour of an X-ray preionized discharge pumped XeCl laser

The output characteristics are described of an X-ray preionized discharge pumped XeCl laser, fed by a low-impedance pulse forming line (PFL), at pressures up to 12 bar. The influence of a multichannel rail gap placed between the PFL and the laser head on the output energy was studied. We found an increase of output energy with increasing pressure up to 8 bar. At higher pressures a saturation behaviour was found. The maximum output energy per unit volume was 6.5 J/l.     

Detailed vibrational population distributions in a CO2 laser discharge as measured with a tunable diode laser

A tunable diode laser (TDL) operating in the 2150–2350 cm^–1 wavenumber region is used to probe a conventional cw CO₂ laser discharge. Absorption lines in more than 25 different vibrational bands are observed, enabling us to determine absolute vibrational populations inall levels of concern to the dynamics of the 10 m CO₂ laser. Levels in thev ₃ mode of CO₂ as high as 00°9 are monitored, and it is found that anharmonic effects play a significant role in the populations of such levels. Thev ₁ andv ₂ mode populations are also investigated in detail, and it is found that these modes are strongly coupled and maintain a common vibrational temperature under all discharge conditions. The use of a TDL is shown to be a powerful technique for investigating the dynamics of infrared molecular lasers.This work was supported in part by the National Science and Engineering Research Council, Canada     

Neon-hydrogen penning plasma laser in a helical hallow-cathode discharge

A Penning plasma laser (PPL) operating at the NeI 585.3 nm and NeI 1.15 m lines in Ne-H₂ mixture has been realized. Helical configuration of the electrodes was used. The dependence of the laser-pulse shape and output power on current pulse duration and amplitude values were investigated. Peak output powers of 1.5 W for the yellow line and 1.2 W for the IR line have been measured.The population inversion mechanism for the 585.3 nm line is discussed in the frames of a model for PPL. The main factor maintaining the population inversion on both lines is depopulation of the Ne(1s ₂) level by Penning reactions with H₂.     

A repetitively pulsed sealed-TE CO2 laser using an oxygen tolerant discharge scheme

A repetitively pulsed (40 Hz) TE CO₂ laser using an oxygen tolerant discharge scheme is described. Long lived (>10⁵ shots) stable discharges at high pump energy density (200 J.l^–1 atm^–1) have been achieved both with and without the use of additive gases.     

High-power simultaneous dual-wavelength emission of an end-pumped Nd:YAG laser using the quasi-three-level and the four-level transition

An efficient continuous-wave (CW) simultaneous dual-wavelength lasing (SDWL) of an LD end-pumped Nd:YAG laser utilizing a quasi-three-level transition at 946 nm and a four-level transition at 1064 nm is reported. A theoretical model has been introduced to determine the threshold conditions for SDWL. The temperature distributions of a Nd:YAG crystal under different pump powers have been analyzed. In the experiments, a CW SDWL output power of 5.12 W at a temperature of 273 K has been achieved with a pump power of 17 W, giving a slope efficiency of 16.36%.     

High-power continuous-wave diode-end-pumped intracavity-frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO4/LBO red laser

A high-power continuous-wave (CW) diode-end-pumped intracavity-frequency-doubled red laser is reported here. The laser consists of a 0.3 at.% Nd:GdVO₄ crystal as laser gain medium, a type II non-critical phase-matched (NCPM) LBO crystal or a type I critical phase-matched (CPM) LBO crystal as frequency-doubler, and a three-mirror-folded cavity. At incident pump power of about 41 W, maximum output powers of 3.8 W and 3 W at 671 nm are obtained with corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 9.3% and 7.5%, respectively. During half an hour, the instability of the red beam is less than 3% at output of 3 W.     

Output and picosecond amplification characteristics of an efficient and high-power discharge excimer laser

Improvements in output pulse energy and efficiency of a conventional capacitor-transfer-type discharge excimer laser with automatic preionization have been achieved by extending the discharge volume and resulting moderate pumping of the active medium. The discharge laser produces a pulse energy of more than 1 J for XeCl, KrF, and ArF lasers in square beams of about 2×2 cm², and the maximum overall efficiency observed is 2.9% for XeCl, 3.2% for KrF and 1.8% for ArF. The laser device has been involved in a picosecond ( 32 ps) XeCl laser amplification system, and was operated as an amplifier at a repetitive frequency of 10 Hz. Saturation fluence for XeCl laser was measured to be 1.4 mJ/cm², and the picosecond pulse energy of 40 mJ was extracted from the amplifier.On leave from Ebara Corp., 6-6-7, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104, JapanOn leave from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, LTD., 4-6-22, Kan-on shinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima 733, Japan     

Numerical modeling of a XeCl laser excited by microwave discharge

12 , 169 (1987). Reasonably good agreements in the peak output power and laser efficiency have been achieved. Model calculations also predict that an efficiency as high as 2.7% can be obtained once the conditions of the above-mentioned experiments have been optimized. From the consideration that the skin depth effectively limits the absorption length of the microwave pumping and hence the excitable volume, it is concluded that high input power densities (>2 MW/cm³) and higher gas pressures (between 3 and 10 atm) are the preferable conditions to achieve higher efficiency. Preliminary calculations on CCl₄ containing XeCl gas mixtures show that improvement in laser efficiency by several folds may be achieved as a result of the higher intrinsic efficiency of excimer formation. Received: 23 September 1996 / Revised version: 25 March 1997     

Investigation of the population inversion in a He-Ne laser discharge by heterodyne holographic interferometry

Heterodyne holographic interferometry was used for end-on investigation of a He-Ne laser discharge. By tuning an actively stabilized dye laser over the 633 nm neon atomic line the phaseshift was obtained as function of frequency, thus enabling the determination of spatially resolved population inversion.