Comparison of copper acetylacetonate, copper (II) acetate, and copper chloride as lasants for copper vapor lasers

The operating characteristics of a neutral copper laser oscillating on the 5106 Å transition employing copper acetylacetonate, copper (II) acetate, and copper chloride oscillating on the 5106 and 5782 Å are described; and all three laser systems are compared in a fixed parameter system. The total output energies for optimum temperature, buffer gas pressure, dissociation pulse energy, and time delay were measured for each laser system. The total energies for the three lasants Cu(Ac)2, Cu(Ac), and CuCl under optimum lasing conditions are in the ratio of 3:2:1.