GW-high pressure CO 2 -N 2 O laser with optical pumping

To verify experimentally the possibility of effective conversion of multi-line pumping radiation of HF chemical chain laser by the use of a combined active medium on the basis of buffered with inert gas (He, Ar, Kr, Xe) mixture of various isotopomers of CO2 and N2O the energy and spectral characteristics of CO2-, N2O- and combined CO2-N2O lasers with optical pumping were experimentally studied. Pumping of dense mixtures (Ptotal = 11 atm) containing CO2: N2O: (He, Ar) = (0-1):(0-1):10 by cascade P1(8) and P2(7) lines of HF laser with total energy ≈200 J was performed. Specific input energy reached 2 J/cm3 at pump radiation fluence up to 10 J/cm2 and pulse duration of 1 μs. For the separate molecular components CO2 and N2O lasing with energies 4.3 and 8.9 J (input energies 47 and 104 J, respectively) in the spectral regions of (P- and R-) and P-branches was revealed. The CO2-N2O combined laser delivered emission with pulse duration ~ 30 ns in the region of overlap of R- and P-branches of N2O and CO2, respectively (wavelength 10.4 - 10.6 μm), with energy 12 J (200 J/1) equal to the sum of output energies on the individual components.© (2004) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.