Excitation and relaxation of metastable atomic states in an active medium of a repetitively pulsed copper vapour laser
- A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk (Russian Federation)
- Research and production corporation 'Istok', Fryazino, Moscow region (Russian Federation)
The influence of a pre-pulse population of copper atom metastable states and their sub-population at a current pulse edge on the copper vapour laser pulse energy is studied under optimal temperature conditions. Experiments have been performed with active elements of a commercial laser having an internal diameter of a discharge channel of 14 and 20 mm. It is found that at a pulse repetition frequency of 12 – 14 kHz, corresponding to a maximal output power, the reduction of the energy due to a residual population of metastable states is by an order of magnitude less than due to their sub-population at a current pulse edge. The modelling based on the experimental results obtained has shown that in the case of an active element with an internal diameter of 14 mm, a decrease in the pulse leading edge from ∼25 ns to 0.6 ns does not reduce the laser pulse energy up to the repetition frequency of ∼50 kHz at an average output power of 70 W m{sup -1} and efficiency of ∼11%. (lasers)
- OSTI ID:
- 22551067
- Journal Information:
- Quantum Electronics (Woodbury, N.Y.), Vol. 46, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-7818
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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