ENHANCED IR HOLLOW CATHODE LASER IN ~3He-Ne GAS MIXTURE

摘要

He gas plays a major role in a number of gas laser systems and its presence is essential in producing population inversion. The high energetic He metastable atoms and ions are responsible for the selective upper laser level population by excitation transfer, charge transfer or Penning reactions with the ground state atoms or ions of the active gas. Additionally, He gas contributes to keep a stable self-sustained abnormal glow discharge. In our previous investigation on He-Kr hollow cathode laser it was demonstrated that the output power and the gain on the KrII 469.4 nm and KrII 431.8 nm lines increase about 33% when the natural isotope ~4He is replaced by the lighter isotope ~3He.