A copper vapor laser utilizing copper chloride as a lasant in a heated discharge tube has been studied. The lasing action was observed only when two successive discharge current pulses at suitable time intervals were applied. The first pulse is considered to be a dissociation pulse to produce copper and chlorine atoms; the second to be a pumping pulse to produce population inversion. The maximum energy density measured to date was 17 μJ/cm3.

Double-discharge copper vapor laser with copper chloride as a lasant

Addition of small amounts of hydrogen to the neon buffer gas in a CuBr laser causes doubling of the average output power and laser efficiency. An efficiency of 1% is easily obtained. Electrical parameters of the pulsed discharge as functions of the hydrogen additive pressure are reported.

Effect of hydrogen on CuBr laser power and efficiency

The operating characteristics of a small self-heated copper halide laser (λ=510.6 and 578.2 nm) are described, where the copper lasant atoms are produced by electric-discharge dissociation of copper bromide that is generatedin situ by flowing Ne-HBr gas mixture over copper pieces in the laser tube. The excitation technique permits fast startup (<1 min to laser oscillation from cold), and rapid and simple control of the CuBr vapour pressure, simultaneously introducing H2 to increase the efficiency. Specific laser output energies and average powers of 12μJ cm−3 and 195 mW cm−3, respectively, are almost a factor of 2 higher than those previously reported in the literature for multi-kilohertz copper bromide lasers. A maximum power of 7.8 W was obtained from the 40 cm3 active region. At its highest efficiency (0.8%) the laser produced 6.1 W.

Characteristics of a copper bromide laser with flowing Ne-HBr buffer gas

By use of low‐inductance (0.5 μH) discharge circuits, pulses of 9.6 mJ were obtained from a double‐pulsed CuCl laser. An oscillator‐amplifier configuration produced a pulse energy of 11 mJ. Scaling studies indicate that additional increases in the laser energy could be obtained by increasing the discharge voltage above 20 kV and/or by increasing the laser‐tube dimensions.

Scaling a double‐pulsed copper chloride laser to 10 mJ

Addition of small amounts of hydrogen chloride to the buffer gas of a double-pulse CuCl laser causes an increase in the production of copper atoms in the ground state. A maximum laser energy increase of 15% was observed and the span of delay times for which laser action occurred increased.

A. A. Vetter

Papers

Addition of HCl to the double‐pulse copper chloride laser