Compact XeF ({ital C}{r_arrow}{ital A}) and iodine laser optically pumped by a surface discharge

Journal Article · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Optics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.20.001011· OSTI ID:165263

Knecht, B A; Fraser, R D; Wheeler, D J; Zietkiewicz, C J ^[1]; Mikheev, L D; Zuev, V S ^[2]; Eden, J G ^[1]

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1. Everitt Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)
2. P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation (??)

A compact surface-discharge laser system has been developed and applied to optically pumping the bound {r_arrow} free XeF ({ital C}{r_arrow}{ital A}) transition that lases in the blue-green (475--490-nm) and the {ital P}{sub 1/2}2{r_arrow}{ital P}{sub 3/2}2 transition of atomic iodine at 1.315 {mu}m. Employing no high voltage or current switches and occupying only {similar_to}1 m{sup 2} of table space, this device has an active length of {similar_to}50 cm and at present dissipates {gt}8 MW/cm of surface discharge for a stored energy of 2.5 kJ. With 5% output coupling at 485 nm, energies of {gt}50 mJ are obtained on the XeF ({ital C}{r_arrow}{ital A}) transition in 1.5-{mu}s (FWHM) pulses. The spectrum of the untuned oscillator is virtually free of absorption features and has a width of {similar_to}15 nm (FWHM). Pulse energies exceeding 0.7 J have been obtained for iodine at 1.3 {mu}m with an output coupling of only 10%.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 165263
• Journal Information: Optics Letters, Journal Name: Optics Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 20; ISSN 0146-9592; ISSN OPLEDP
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
DESIGN
GAS DYNAMIC LASERS
INFRARED RADIATION
IODINE
PERFORMANCE
PULSE TECHNIQUES
VISIBLE RADIATION
XENON FLUORIDES