Laser amplification by chemical upconversion. Quarterly technical report No. 3, 10 December 1975-9 March 1976

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:5739910

Eckstrom, D J

The feasibility of a hybrid electronic-transition visible laser involving both chemical pumping and infrared optical pumping is under investigation. The scheme is based on the observation that highly exothermic chemical reactions predominantly populate high vibrational levels of the ground electronic state of the newly formed molecule. These vibrational levels are often of comparable energy to excited electronic states, and collisional processes can transfer populations between the various electronic states as well as vibrationally relax the ground electronic state. If the minimum in the excited-state potential curve is offset from that of the ground state, however, the conversion from ground to excited states can be accomplished by infrared optical pumping rather than by collisions. Because of the offset in potential curves, fluorescence or lasing at the opposite potential turning point will be in the visible or near uv. If the vibrational distributions in the ground electronic state are favorable, and if the infrared pumping is sufficiently rapid, this technique offers a new possibility of achieving an electronic population inversion and visible laser action in chemically pumped systems.

• Research Organization: Stanford Research Inst., Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AT03-76SF90030
• OSTI ID: 5739910
• Report Number(s): DOE/SF/90030-T1; ON: DE82007907
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
BARIUM
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL LASERS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
INFRARED RADIATION
LASERS
METALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
OPTICAL PUMPING
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POPULATION INVERSION
PUMPING
RADIATIONS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
VIBRATIONAL STATES