INVESTIGATION OF BARIUM LASER EXCITATION PROCESSES USING LASER-INDUCED-PERTURBATION TECHNIQUE

We report experiments in which the active medium of a pulsed discharge -excited barium laser is illuminated by dye laser radiation, tuned to produce significant changes in the populations of selected states of n eutral barium which are the upper and lower levels of barium laser tra nsitions. The resulting perturbations to the discharge-excited laser o utput have enabled excitation processes relating to laser emission at 1.13, 1.50, 2.55, 2.92, and 4.72 mu m from barium vapor to be identifi ed.