Abstract

The segmented hollow-cathode (SHC) is a high-voltage variant of the hollow-cathode (HC) which avoids interposing anodes within the cathode [1], The anodes and cathodes are arranged around a common cylindrical surface which defines the bore of the discharge tube. The SHC discharge is more efficient for operating sputtering-based charge-transfer pumped metal ion lasers and small- signal gains as high as 55 and 17%m^-1 have been obtained for the He-Au⁺ 2S2 nm+[2] and Ne-Cu⁺ 270 nm [3] transitions respectively. The significance of this is that repetitively pulsed operation (duty cycle 0.01-0.1) of a compact laser on the UV lines at a milliwatt peak power level for a mean electrical input of less than 10 W has been projected. [4]

© 1996 Optical Society of America