The behavior of gain and saturation characteristics versus temperature in a copper bromide laser

Abstract

A pair of copper bromide lasers in an oscillator-amplifier configuration was used to investigate the temperature dependence of the smallsignal gain, saturation intensity, and output power of the laser. The observations were explained in terms of the electron temperature and energy levels of transition. An optimum electrical input power of 1.6 kW and a corresponding operational temperature of 510 °C were determined for the maximum values of these parameters. The balance between the microscopic parameters, such as stimulated emission crosssection, laser upperlevel lifetime, and population inversion, which determine the behavior of the amplifying parameters and laser output power with respect to the operational temperature, has been investigated. We used the steadystate rate equation from the Hargrove model to determine the amplifying parameters, instead of the Frantz-Nodvik formula. The power extracted from the amplifier exceeds that achieved with the same device as the oscillator by more than 60%.

Pressure Dependence of the Small-Signal Gain and Saturation Intensity of a Copper Bromide Laser

“…The experiments are carried out for a 58-cm-long am-plifier at frequency 20 kHz using helium pressure of 11 Torr as a buffer gas. The electrical input power into the amplifier has been chosen to fix at about 1.8 kW and the corresponding temperature of the tube is measured to be about 510 ∘ C. The obtained values of the amplifying parameters are nearly the same as those of our recent previous work, [16] which have been carried out by a 48-cm-long amplifier. The results are evident because the gain coefficient in the first approximation should not depend on the laser length.…”

Various buffer gas effects on amplifying parameters of a copper bromide laser

“…For measuring of the amplifying parameters, we used the Hargrove's model instead of the Frantz-Nodvik formula which has been used by other researchers, previously [17,18]. The setup of experiments is similar to our previous works for CBL MOPAs [7][8][9]. One heated side-arm reservoir of CuBr, which is located at the middle of the length of the tubes, is used to seed the discharge zone with the CuBr vapor.…”

“…Therefore, to reduce the operating temperature of pure CVL, copper halides such as copper bromide are used. The operating temperature of the copper halide lasers depends on the vapor pressure of the compounds, which is about 500 °C for the copper bromide laser and is lower than the pure CVL operating temperature [5][6][7][8][9]. Two principal outputs with wavelengths of 510.6-and 578.2 nm have been obtained from a halide laser, similar to CVL ones.…”

“…The CBL MOPA systems have been utilized to different technological applications, and also the development of the MOPA system in a CBL operating at 110 W average power has been reported [15,16]. In our previous works, we used a MOPA system in the CBL, to satisfy higher output power and beam quality simultaneously [7][8][9]. The gain characteristics and temperature profile have been achieved for CBLs [9].…”

“…In our previous works, we used a MOPA system in the CBL, to satisfy higher output power and beam quality simultaneously [7][8][9]. The gain characteristics and temperature profile have been achieved for CBLs [9]. Also, the independencies of the amplifying parameters on the different amplifier tubes length with identical small diameter were investigated [7].…”