SCALING OF A LASER-BASED ON ATOMIC TRANSI TION IN XENON PUMPED BY AN ELECTRON-BEAM

An experimental investigation was made of the parameters of lasing as a result of atomic transitions in xenon observed when Ar-Xe and He-Ar- Xe mixtures were excited by an electron beam in a laser chamber with a n active volume of similar to 600 litres. Electron beams from six doub le acceleration diodes were injected axially symmetric into this chamb er. This ensured a more efficient utilisation of the pump energy and a uniform distribution of the laser radiation energy over a transverse exit aperture in the maximum specific input energies. An output radiat ion energy of the order of 100 J was generated with an efficiency of a bout 2% at lambda = 1.73 mu m and of the order of 50 J with an efficie ncy of about 1% at lambda = 2.03 mu m. An analysis was made of the exp erimental results and of criteria for the optimisation of the pump par ameters in order to improve the output characteristics of a wide-apert ure laser operating on the basis of atomic transitions in xenon.