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Carbon dioxide molecular vibrational energy levels above carbon monoxide-oxygen premixed flame, discussing vibration modes leading to population inversion and relaxation time variance
Gas lasers pumping by nuclear energy, discussing heavy particle interactions, threshold densities, population inversion, etc
Nuclear reaction products effect on population inversion in gas lasers, considering neutron irradiation enhancement of carbon dioxide laser output
Investigation of different models for the collisional excitation of carbon monoxide (CO) by solving the rate equations for the ten lowest energy levels, including stimulated emission and absorption by 3 K isotropic radiation, spontaneous emission, and collisions. The results are qualitatively applicable to other linear molecules. They show that a wide range of rotational excitation temperatures, including population inversions, can be produced by the various kinetic temperatures and particle densities which are likely to occur in the interstellar regions containing molecules.
Continuous-wave laser can achieve higher rate of emission through Q-switching. Technique keeps Q, energy storage rating, of laser cavity at low value while ion population inversion is being built up. Then Q is suddenly switched to high value just before instability occurs.
An approach to an argon ion laser based on gasdynamic techniques is presented. Improvement in efficiency and power output are achieved by eliminating high heat rejection problems and plasma confinement of the seal-off conventional lasers. The process of producing population inversion between the same energy levels, as in the conventional argon ion laser, has been divided into two phases by separating each other from the processes of ionization and subsequent excitation. Line drawings and graphs are included to amplify the theoretical presentation.
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 microjoule/cu cm.
The results of experiments performed to check the possibility of stimulated emission in the extreme vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) by an Al(+3) laser-generated plasma are reported. It is concluded that the spectral line intensity anomalies previously observed are not due to population inversion.
Charge-transfer reactions or Penning ionization reactions are used to produce population inversions between electronic states of molecular ions which should result in stimulated emission in ultraviolet and visible regions. Such lasers could be used in study of short-lived reaction intermediates, crystal structure and scattering, and photolysis.
By applying electric discharge, lead chloride vapor in tube is dissociated into lead and chlorine atoms. Population inversion of lead atoms is attained subsequently by second discharge, before chemical recombination of lead and chlorine has occurred. Optimum time interval between two discharges is required for maximum laser output.
Experimental investigations of fission fragment excited gases are reported along with a theoretical analysis of population inversions in fission fragment excited helium. Other studies reported include: nuclear augmentation of gas lasers, direct nuclear pumping of a helium-xenon laser, measurements of a repetitively pulsed high-power CO2 laser, thermodynamic properties of UF6 and UF6/He mixtures, and nuclear waste disposal utilizing a gaseous core reactor.
Terminal voltage measurements with long cathodes in a high power, quasi-steady MPD discharge show that the critical current for the onset of voltage fluctuations, which was previously shown to be a function of cathode area, approaches an asymptote for cathodes of very large surface area. Floating potential measurements and photographs of the discharge luminosity indicate that the fluctuations are confined to the vicinity of the cathode and hence reflect a cathode emission process rather than a fundamental limit on MPD performance. Photoelectric measurements of particular argon neutral and ion transitions show that the higher electronic states are populated more heavily than would be calculated on the basis of Saha-Boltzmann equilibrium at the local electron temperature and number density. Preliminary optical depth measurements show that for a current of 4 kA and an argon mass flow of 12 g/sec, a population inversion exists between the upper and lower states of the 4880 A argon ion transition.
Using a simple rate equation approach the gas kinetic and discharge properties of waveguide CO2 lasers were examined. The dependence was calculated of the population inversion and laser small signal gain on gas pressure, gas mixture, pumping rate (discharge current), tube bore diameter, and wall temperature. At higher pressures the gain is optimized by using more helium rich mixtures and smaller bore diameters. The dependence of laser tunability on the gas kinetic properties and cavity losses was determined, it was found that for loss cavities the laser tunability may substantially exceed the molecular fullwidth at half maximum. The more helium rich gas mixtures give greater tunability when cavity losses are small and less tunability when cavity losses are large. The role of the various gases in the waveguide CO2 laser is the same as that in conventional devices, by contrast with conventional lasers, the waveguide laser transition is homogeneously broadened. The dependence of gain on gas pressure and other kinetic and discharge properties differs substantially from that predicted by scaling results from conventional low pressure lasers.
Radiation emitted from the exhaust flow of a multi-megawatt, quasi-steady magnetoplasmadynamic accelerator has been examined photoelectrically for argon mass flows from 6 to 32 g/sec and arc currents up to 25 kA. Vacuum ultraviolet radiation, indicative of resonance transitions, has been detected photoelectrically at various axial locations downstream of the arc chamber, consistent with a relaxation length calculated using a collisional-radiative recombination model. Photoelectric measurements of particular transitions in the neutral and first ionic state of argon show that populations of excited electronic states of AII are in excess of that which would be expected on the basis of Saha-Boltzmann equilibrium at the local electron temperature and number density. Optical depth measurements indicate that for a current of 4 kA and argon mass flow of 12 g/sec, a population inversion exists between the upper and lower states of the 0.4880 micron argon ion transition.
By measuring the absorption and emission cantinua of various states in the cesium/xenon molecule, the collisional rates critical in populating the alkali/rare gas excimer levels have been estimated. Cs atomic states that are weakly optically connected to ground have been shown to form excimer levels that are attractive as potential dissociation lasers. In particular, the (Cs/7 2S/Xe) excited molecule appears promising as a source of high energy laser radiation due to its large dissociation energy, stimulated emission cross section, and small population inversion densities. Monitoring of the optically pumped Cs2 molecular absorption profile in the presence of xenon shows a drastic change with increasing xenon pressure for the Cs2C band. Dominant absorption at large xenon densities is centered around approximately 6380 A as opposed to 6300 A for lower perturber pressure.
Population inversion is observed between the field-independent ground hyperfine states of Rb-87 when using an optical pumping technique which is applicable to a large number of species of atoms and ions. Inversion occurs upon a coherent transfer of angular momentum to the Rb-87 spin system from circularly polarized light propagating in a transverse direction to a magnetic field. Coherence is established by modulating, at certain frequencies, the light intensity or magnetic-field strength.
A simple rate-equation approach is used to examine the gas-kinetic and discharge properties of waveguide CO2 lasers. The dependence of the population inversion and laser small-signal gain on gas pressure, gas mixture, pumping rate (discharge current), tube bore diameter, and wall temperature is calculated along with the dependence of laser tunability on the gas-kinetic properties and cavity losses. It is found that for low-loss cavities, the laser tunability may substantially exceed the molecular full width at half-maximum. Furthermore, the more helium-rich gas mixtures give greater tunability when cavity losses are small, and less tunability when cavity losses are large. By contrast with conventional lasers, the waveguide-laser transition is homogeneously broadened. Thus, the dependence of gain on gas pressure and other kinetic properties differs substantially from that predicted by scaling results from conventional low-pressure lasers.
The possibility of creating a plasma from fission fragments was investigated, as well as the probability of utilizing the energy of these particles to create population inversion leading to laser action. Eventually, it is hoped that the same medium could be used for both fissioning and lasing, thus avoiding inefficiences in converting one form of energy to the other. A central problem in understanding a fission induced plasma is to obtain an accurate model of the electron behavior; some calculations are presented to this end. The calculations are simple, providing a compendium of processes for reference.