Fast plasma mixing--A new excitation method for CW gas laser

"Fast plasma mixing" is proposed as a method to generate population inversions on electronic transitions for continuous lasers. Selective excitation is accomplished by preparing collision partners for excitation in two or more separate beams. Excitation in a well-defined reaction volume and a fast flow in combination with a suitable resonator will allow the fast removal of decay products from the active volume. This pumping method will allow the operation of new CW laser systems not possible with conventional discharges and CW operation of laser systems, which at this time can only be operated as pulsed lasers. A test device has been used to study the proposed excitation method. CW operation as a fluorine laser has demonstrated the general feasibility of this method. Of special interest are molecular lasers pumped by charge or energy transfer from atomic species or by chemical reactions and excimer lasers. These lasers may offer the capability of operating CW tunable gas lasers in the visible and ultraviolet spectral regime.