CHARACTERISTICS OF A COPPER BROMIDE LASER WITH FLOWING NE-HBR BUFFER GAS

The operating characteristics of a small self-heated copper halide laser (lambda = 510.6 and 578.2 nm) are described, where the copper lasant atoms are produced by electric-discharge dissociation of copper bromide that is generated in 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 12-mu-J 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.