Abstract
The high pressure atomic xenon laser is becoming the most promising light source in the wavelength region of a few microns. The merits are high efficiency (so far up to 8 percent), high output energies (15 J/liter at 9 bar), high continuous output power (more than 200 W/liter), no gas dissociation and thermal heating of the lower laser level. Compared with the well-known low pressure xenon laser the power performance is now roughly a factor thousand higher. The operation of the system, based on three-body-collisions, uses the metastable state of the xenon atom as the ground state so that in the recirculation of energy a high quantum efficiency is obtained. Furthermore the homogeneous line broadening caused by the high collision frequency has also a strong beneficial effect on the efficiency. However, the required intense homogeneous excitation of the gas medium at high density is from a technical point of view a great challenge. From our experimental and theoretical work we found that at optimum performance the input power must be 1 to 2.5 [KW cm-3 atm-2]. We describe our results obtained with e-beam sustained and x-ray preionized systems delivering pulsed energies in the range of joules per liter. Furthermore we describe our recent results on continuous RF excited wave guide systems of about 37 cm length with output powers in the range of watts.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers |
Subtitle of host publication | Tenth International Symposium 1994 |
Editors | Willy L. Bohn, Helmut Huegel |
Place of Publication | Bellingham, WA |
Publisher | SPIE |
Pages | 497-504 |
Number of pages | 8 |
ISBN (Print) | 0-8194-1860-9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 1995 |
Event | 10th International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers 1994 - Friedrichshaven, Germany Duration: 5 Sept 1994 → 9 Sept 1994 Conference number: 10 |
Publication series
Name | Proceedings of SPIE |
---|---|
Publisher | SPIE |
Volume | 2502 |
ISSN (Print) | 0277-786X |
Conference
Conference | 10th International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers 1994 |
---|---|
Country/Territory | Germany |
City | Friedrichshaven |
Period | 5/09/94 → 9/09/94 |