Investigation of a strontium vapor laser

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Sov. J. Quant. Electron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1070/QE1985v015n06ABEH007161· OSTI ID:5332619

Prokop'ev, V E; Solomonov, V I

An experimental investigation was made of the time dependence of the intensity of spontaneous lines of strontium atoms and ions in an He--Sr plasma formed in 5- and 10-cm diameter discharge tubes. The intensity of the intercombination atomic line (lambda = 689.3 nm) fell on reaching the maximum current. An absorption method was employed to measure the time dependence of the population of the 4d/sup 2/D/sub 5//sub ///sub 2/Sr/sup +/ metastable level which is the lower active level for the lambda = 1033 nm self-terminating transition. Three decay time constants were discovered, depending on the helium pressure p/sub He/. It was found that the decay of the population of the metastable level mainly resulted from collisions with electrons, the most rapid decay of the population with tau/sub 1/ = 1-10 ..mu..sec being due to relaxation of the electron temperature and the slowest decay (with tau/sub 2/ = 10--80 ..mu..sec) due to plasma recombination. At low values of p/sub He/<1.5 kPa, ambipolar diffusion made the principal contribution to the process of decay of the population of the 4d/sup 2/D/sub 5//sub ///sub 2/Sr/sup +/ level. The minimum time delay after which lambda = 1033 nm lasing appeared following the second excitation pulse was equal to the time needed for the completion of the decay of the 4d/sup 2/D/sub 5//sub ///sub 2/Sr/sup +/ level population, while the influence of the first excitation pulse on the second vanished after a time tau/sub 2/.

• Research Organization: Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Siberian Branch of the Academy of the Sciences of the USSR, Tomsk
• OSTI ID: 5332619
• Journal Information: Sov. J. Quant. Electron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Sov. J. Quant. Electron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 15:6; ISSN SJQEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXCITED STATES
GAS LASERS
LASERS
METAL VAPOR LASERS
METALS
METASTABLE STATES
STRONTIUM
TIME DEPENDENCE