Comparative study of gas composition in a low temperature operated copper vapor laser

The effect of gas composition on a HyBrID copper vapor laser has been exper imentally investigated by changing a gas mixture combination of hydrogen ha lide gas HBr and HI with a buffer gas comprising He, Ne, and Ar under the s ame operating conditions. It is observed that the output power characterist ics is strongly influenced by the gas combination. A maximum output power o f 80 W is obtained with gas combinations of both HBr and HI gas with Ne buf fer gas. On using He buffer gas, the maximum output power decreases to 40% of that with HBr and Ne, and to 25% of that with HI and Ne. Laser action is not observed at all with Ar buffer gas. At a high pulse repetition frequen cy of more than 17 kHz, it is found that the gas combination of HI with Ne can produce a higher output power than that with HBr. The mechanism respons ible for the difference in characteristics is discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.