Experimental study of a Ne-H{sub 2} Penning Recombination Laser in a helical hollow cathode discharge

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:232872

Pramatarov, P M; Stefanova, M S; Petrov, G M ^[1]

---

1. Georgy Nadjakov Institute of Solid State Physics, Sofia (Bulgaria)

Penning recombination lasers (PRL), as first proposed in, operate in non-equilibrium recombination plasma where the upper laser level (ULL) is populated by the recombination flux and the lower laser level (LLL) is depopulated by Penning reactions. The lack of chemical activity and degradation of the laser mixture, lasing in the visible spectral region and high output power obtained attract the attention to the Ne-H{sub 2} PRL operating on the NeI 585.3 nm line (the 2p{sub 1}-1s{sub 2} transition). Despite the most powerful PRL are pumped by electron beams of relativistic energies, it is of practical interest to realize PRL pumped in a hollow cathode discharge where beam of high energy primary electrons exists. In this study a detailed experimental investigation of a Ne-H{sub 2} PRL operating in a helical hollow cathode discharge is carried out. The obtained data are compared with the results of the theoretical model. The laser tube design is similar to that used in our previous work. The cathode is made of Mo band 10 mm wide, helically wound with a 15 mm pitch to form a cylindrical hollow. Five laser tubes with different cathode diameters (5.5-12 mm) and lengths (110-280 mm) are investigated.

• OSTI ID: 232872
• Report Number(s): CONF-950749--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
66 PHYSICS
DESIGN
GAS LASERS
HOLLOW CATHODES
PENNING DISCHARGES
RECOMBINATION