Interdependence of buffer gas pressure and optimum interpulse delay in a burst-mode copper halide laser

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JQE.1984.1072480· OSTI ID:6423304

Tobin, R C; Peard, K A

The variation of the laser output energy of a 100 pulse burst with interpulse delay has been studied for each of the copper halides CuCl, CuBr, and CuI as a function of the tube temperature and of the buffer gas pressure for helium and neon. The tube bore was 12 mm and the specific discharge energy was 3.8 mJ . cm/sup -//sub 3/. For CuI, the optimum interpulse delay decreases with increase in tube temperature and with decrease in the buffer gas pressure. At each temperature and pressure the optimum interpulse delay is shorter for helium than for neon. Although the formation of the laser pulse is intimately connected with the mechanism of breakdown in the discharge tube, the effect of this mechanism on the optimum interpulse delay is small and the latter is determined mainly by the dissociation-recombination cycle of the copper halide. The increase in optimum interpulse delay with buffer gas pressure suggests that either collisions with halogen atoms or molecules or superelastic electron collisions are responsible for the decay of the population of the metastable copper atoms.

• Research Organization: Department of Physics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
• OSTI ID: 6423304
• Journal Information: IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States), Journal Name: IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States) Vol. QE-20:8; ISSN IEJQA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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BROMIDES
BROMINE COMPOUNDS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COPPER BROMIDES
COPPER CHLORIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER HALIDES
COPPER IODIDES
DISSOCIATION
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GAS LASERS
GASES
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HELIUM
HELIUM-NEON LASERS
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
LASER MATERIALS
LASERS
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
NEON
NONMETALS
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
RARE GASES
RECOMBINATION
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TESTING
TIMING PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS