Repetition rate scaling up to 100 kHz of a small-scale (50 w) kinetically enhanced copper vapor laser

We report on the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) scaling of a small-scale (25 mm bore and 0.61 m long) copper vapor laser (CVL). When operated as an elemental CVL, the laser had a stable output power of 15 W at 15 kHz PRP (0 .6% efficiency). After the addition of small quantities of hydrogen and hyd rogen chloride to the neon buffer gas, the maximum recorded stable output p ower increased to 41 W at 25 kHz PRF (1.4% efficiency). This represents a r ecord stable specific output power of 0.14 Wcm(-3). Pulse repetition freque ncy scaling of the laser was demonstrated up to 100 kHz where the output po wer was 9.0 W By operating the laser at elevated input powers, transient ou tput powers of over 50 W were achieved between PRFs of 25-40 kHz. These res ults are the highest recorded specific output powers (0.17 Wcm(-3)) for a C VL with this tube diameter.