脉冲微波源激励铜卤化物和锶离子复合激光.pdfVIP

EXCITATION OFCOPPER HALIDE AND STRONTIIZTM-ION RECOMBINATION LASERS USING A PULSED MICROWAVE SOURCE J. W. BetheA. Maitland, P. M.Beecham,T.C. Bell,S.Webb and C.E.Little. Introduction Microwave-pumped discharges are promising ahmatives to conventional direct cunmt @C) discharges, especially fbr the excitation of gas lasers using high buffer gas pressures (fromseveral hundred mbar up to atmosphericpressure). In recentyears microwave excited dischargeshave proved to be ekctive pump sources for many gas lasersystems for example excuner, CO,, and HeNe lasers.Discharges cnated in this way have no internalelectrodes andthdore impurities in amicrowave pumped system canbe keptto a minimum. Ibis is espectally importantintheelevatedteq” often found inmetal vapourlaserdischarges. Copper lasers are high power sources of green (510.6nm) and yellow (578.2nm) radialionwith applications including materialsprocessing, dermatology, atomic lsotopeseparation, adaptive optics and ca~lcer therapy. They are usually longitudinauy excited deviceswith ef6cienciesofbetween 1 and 3percent at average power levels of over 100W and ope- with neon buffer gas at pressures of betweeri 20-100mbar at Ihigh pulse reclllrrence rates(PFWs) of between 2 and 32 kHz.However,transversely excited copper halide and copper vapour lasers operabng atelevatedbuf€er gas pressures of up to lo00mbar canproduce specific output energies over an order of magnrtude higher.Thisis due to higherelectric fields associateciwith thesedischarges permitting operation at higher buffer gas pressures and hence higher atomic copper atom concentratiOIIS. Copper halide lasen (CHLs) operate at temperaturesof around 5oooC, whereas elementadd copper vapour lasers(CVLS) usua