Abstract
The effects of hydrogen additive on the performance and detailed kinetics of a pulsed barium vapour laser operating with burst-mode excitation are reported. Time resolved density measurements of significant atomic and ionic barium states in pure neon buffer gas and in a NeH2 mixture show that the plasma relaxes between excitation pulses much more rapidly when hydrogen is present. The observed improvement in laser performance (65% increase in output pulse energy) under steady state (i.e. end of burst) conditions with hydrogen additive is directly attributable to improved pre-pulse conditions, resulting from cumulative effects of the enhanced plasma relaxation. The results and conclusions are relevant to other cyclic pulsed metal vapour lasers.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 112-120 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Optics Communications |
Volume | 120 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 1995 |