Characteristics of the high-pressure Ar-Xe laser pumped by an electron beam and an electron-beam sustained discharge

Author

Suda, Akira ; Wexler, Bernard L. ; Riley, Kevin J. ; Feldman, Barry J.

Author_Institution

Geo-Centers Inc., Fort Washington, MD, USA

Volume

26

Issue

5

fYear

1990

fDate

5/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

911

Lastpage

921

Abstract

Mechanisms of the line competition observed among the 1.73-, 2.03-, and 2.65-μm lines are interpreted based on the gain and saturation data along with some known kinetics. The energy distribution among the lines is also investigated as a function of various operating parameters. An enhancement factor of ~10 was readily obtained for both electrical input energy and laser output energy in the e-beam sustained discharged. However, there is a tradeoff between enhancement factors and laser output energy due to a degradation of the laser output observed for discharge power enhancements greater than 5. The maximum output energy obtained was 4 J/l, with an intrinsic efficiency of ~3%

Keywords

argon; electron beam applications; gas lasers; laser transitions; xenon; 1.73 micron; 2.03 micron; 2.65 micron; 3 percent; degradation; electrical input energy; electron-beam sustained discharge; energy distribution; enhancement factor; gain; high pressure Ar-Xe laser; intrinsic efficiency; laser output energy; line competition; operating parameters; saturation data; Electron beams; Gas lasers; Kinetic theory; Laser excitation; Laser theory; Laser transitions; Power lasers; Pump lasers; X-ray lasers; Xenon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.55533

Filename

55533