Laser parameters of the 1.73 {mu}m atomic xenon transition at very high He/Ar buffer gas ratios
- Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Fission-fragment excitation can potentially be used to efficiently pump high power gas lasers with long run times. However, high energy loading of the laser gas mixture results in gas heating and degraded laser performance of the atmospheric pressure Ar/Xe laser. Addition of helium, which is efficiently excited by fission-fragments, has been shown to significantly improve the 1.73 {mu}m atomic xenon laser performance. Using a narrow band dielectric laser cavity to suppress the 2.03 {mu}m atomic-xenon transition, the 1.73 {mu}m laser power efficiency varied between 2 and 3 percent for a total pressure of 780 Torr, He/Ar ratios of 3/1 to 16/1 and pump rates of 5 to 40 W/cc. For a constant energy loading, the FWHM of the laser pulse with respect to the pump pulse for some gas mixtures increased by a factor of 2.5 when argon is replaced by helium. Probed small signal gain measurements indicate that the gain varies between 0.2 and 0.8%/cm for the previous experimental conditions. In addition, replacing argon with helium eliminates the strong absorption observed in Ar/Xe gas mixtures under some operating conditions. Possible explanations of the improvement in laser performance will be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 127966
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-920376--
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Physical Society Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 37; ISSN 0003-0503; ISSN BAPSA6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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