Abstract

The development of an Ar-Xe laser is of interest because a high intrinsic efficiency (2-4%) has been demonstrated at low pump power (10-1000 W/cm³) and at atmospheric pressure. The low current densities required to pump at 10-20 W/cm³ along with the relatively high small signal gain (0.5%/cm) on the 1.73-μm transition at these low pump powers make the construction of a cw electron-beam-pumped Ar-Xe feasible. A long-pulse, electron-beam facility using a thermionic cathode has been constructed to investigate the steady-state behavior of Ar-Xe, in particular, and rare gas lasers, in general (Fig. 1).

© 1991 Optical Society of America