The effects of He addition on the performance of the fission-fragment excited Ar/Xe atomic xenon laser

Journal Article · Fri Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Journal of Applied Physics; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.348752· OSTI ID:5633887

Alford, W J; Hays, G N ^[1]; Ohwa, M; Kushner, M J ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (US)
2. University of Illinois, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical and Discharge Physics, 1406 W. Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA)

The intrinsic power efficiency of the atomic xenon laser depends upon the electron density because of the mixing of the laser levels by electron collisions while the electron density in high-pressure particle-beam excited plasmas increases with increasing gas temperature. Therefore, in order to reduce the amount of electron collisional mixing when operating at high-energy loadings ({gt}100's J/1-atm) mixtures having a high-heat capacity are required. In particle-beam excited Ar/Xe mixtures, which typically yield the highest intrinsic laser efficiencies, increasing the gas pressure to increase the heat capacity is not always practical due to the high-stopping power of the gas mixture. For this reason we have experimentally and theoretically investigated adding He to Ar/Xe mixtures in studies of a fission-fragment excited atomic xenon laser. Adding He increases the heat capacity without appreciably perturbing the favorable kinetics resulting in efficient operation of the laser in Ar/Xe mixtures. We find that when adding He to Ar/Xe mixtures the dominant laser transition switches from 1.73 to 2.03 {mu}m without significantly decreasing the efficiency. The laser pulse length also increases, an effect attributed to a lowering of both the electron temperature and gas temperatures.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5633887
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics; (USA), Vol. 69:4; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
GAS LASERS
NUCLEAR PUMPING
ARGON
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
FISSION FRAGMENTS
HELIUM
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE
SANDIA LABORATORIES
XENON
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
KINETICS
LASERS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FRAGMENTS
PUMPING
RARE GASES
REACTION KINETICS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
426002* - Engineering- Lasers & Masers- (1990-)