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Radio frequency discharges in Ar/He/Xe gas mixtures have been studied in the range 5–150 MHz, and the importance of the ion sheaths in Xe laser excitation has been recognized. The discharge data have been used to improve the cw Xe laser performance, and efficiencies up to 0.8% observed. Area scaling in the slab geometry has been studied for α discharge excitation at 49 MHz, and multimode cw laser power up to 5.5 W has been observed. High quality beams have been produced at 4.9 W using a hybrid waveguide/unstable resonator.

We report high power cw operation of a slab waveguide atomic xenon laser in a spectral region of low atmospheric absorption. Using transverse radio frequency discharge excitation at 49 MHz and a hybrid waveguide-unstable resonator, with a sharp band edge on the reflectivity versus wavelength curve of the laser mirrors, 50 mW was obtained on the 3.869 μm transition and 210 mW on the 3.895 μm line.

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