On the possibility of developing quasi-CW high-power high-pressure laser on 4p–4s transition of ArI with electron beam—optical pumping: quenching of 4s (³P₂) lower laser level

Abstract

Abstract.A new electron beam-optical procedure is proposed for quasi-cw pumping of high-pressure large-volume He-Ar laser on 4p[1/2] 1 -4s[3/2] 2 argon atom transition at the wavelength of 912.5 nm. It consists of creation and maintenance of a necessary density of 4s[3/2] 2 metastable state in the gain medium by a fast electron beam and subsequent optically pumping of the upper laser level via the classical three-level scheme using a laser diode. Absorption probing is used to study collisional quenching of Ar * metastable in electron-beam-excited high-pressure He-Ar mixtures with a low content of argon. The rate constants for plasma-chemical reactions Ar*+He+Ar-Ar 2 *+He (3.6 +-0.4)x10 -33 cm 6 /s, Ar+2He-HeAr*+He (4.4 +-0.9)x10 -36 cm 6 /s and Ar*+He-Products+He (2.4 +-0.3)x10 -15 cm 3 /s are for the first time measured.