Experimental Study of an Oscillator – Amplifire Transversely Excited Molecular Nitrogen Laser System

Hariri, A; Torkashvand, M; Farahbod, A.H

Experimental Study of an Oscillator – Amplifire Transversely Excited Molecular Nitrogen Laser System

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

A Hariri

M Torkashvand

A.H Farahbod

Abstract

: An oscillator-amplifire system consists of a corona-preionized N₂-laser operating at intermediate up to atmospheric gas pressure, and a long channel N₂ laser operating at low gas pressure was built and studied. When a special design of a low impedance spark gap in a flat-plate Blumlein circuit was utilized, the laser was able to operate at pulse repetition rate of 150 Hz. At this operational condition the average output power of the system was 30 mW which corresponds to 400 kW peak power with the FWHM pulse width of 5 ns. The experimental results showed that long channel N₂-lasers will improve the laser output beam, but due to the self-absorption the small signal gain and the laser saturation energy density will be reduced. The technique can be applied to couple and synchronize other self-terminating laser systems, where the use of optical resonators are impractical.

Highlights

1. H. Strohwald and Salzman, “Picosecond uv laser pulses from gas discharges in pure nitrogen at pressures up to 6 atm,” Appl. phys. Lett. 28, 272-274 (1976).

2. I. Santa, S. Szatmari. B. Nemet, J. Hebling, “Investigation of TEA-TE nitrogen laser system,” Opt. Commun. 41, 59-60 (1982).

3. I. Santa, L. Kozma, B. Racz, “Investigation of atmospheric and low-pressure nitrogen laser amplifire,” Sov. J. Quantum Electron. 15, 533-536 (1985).

4. T. Jitsuno, “A multi-stage TEA N₂ laser,” J. phys. D: Appl. phys. 13, 1405-1411 (1980).

5. K. Kagawa, H. Kobayashi, M. Ishikane, “Oscillator-amplifire system in N₂ laser using the pressure dependent formative time-lag of discharge,” Jpn. J. Appl. phys. 18, 2187-2188 (1979).

6. F.Docchio, V.Magni, R. Ramponi, “Thyratron-switched N₂ atmospheric-pressure oscillator, low-pressure amplifier laser system,” Rev. Sci Instrum. 55, 477-481 (1984).

7. A. A. Serafetinides and G. N. Tsikrikas, “A semiconductively preionised TEA nitrogen Oscillator-amplifier laser system,” Opt. Commun. 79, 448-454 (1990).

8. D. H. Kalantar, D. A. Hammer, A. W. De Silva, “Nitrogen laser system for diagnosing Z-pinch and X-pinch plasmas,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 2725-2729 (1997).

9. A. Hariri, M. Tarkashvand, A. Karami, “Corona-preionized nitrogen laser with variable pulse width,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 61, 1408-1412 (1990).

10. A. H. Farahbod and A. Hariri, “Application of generalized self-filtering unstable resonators to a N₂-laser pumped dye laser,” Opt. Commun. 108,84-90 (1994).

11. W.Koechner, “Solid-State Laser Engineering,” Springer-Verlag, NY (1996).

Keywords

molecular nitrogen laser

transverse excitation

corona preionization

oscillator-amplifire system

1. H. Strohwald and Salzman, “Picosecond uv laser pulses from gas discharges in pure nitrogen at pressures up to 6 atm,” Appl. phys. Lett. 28, 272-274 (1976).

2. I. Santa, S. Szatmari. B. Nemet, J. Hebling, “Investigation of TEA-TE nitrogen laser system,” Opt. Commun. 41, 59-60 (1982).

3. I. Santa, L. Kozma, B. Racz, “Investigation of atmospheric and low-pressure nitrogen laser amplifire,” Sov. J. Quantum Electron. 15, 533-536 (1985).
1. 4. T. Jitsuno, “A multi-stage TEA N₂ laser,” J. phys. D: Appl. phys. 13, 1405-1411 (1980).
5. K. Kagawa, H. Kobayashi, M. Ishikane, “Oscillator-amplifire system in N₂ laser using the pressure dependent formative time-lag of discharge,” Jpn. J. Appl. phys. 18, 2187-2188 (1979).

6. F.Docchio, V.Magni, R. Ramponi, “Thyratron-switched N₂ atmospheric-pressure oscillator, low-pressure amplifier laser system,” Rev. Sci Instrum. 55, 477-481 (1984).

7. A. A. Serafetinides and G. N. Tsikrikas, “A semiconductively preionised TEA nitrogen Oscillator-amplifier laser system,” Opt. Commun. 79, 448-454 (1990).
1. 8. D. H. Kalantar, D. A. Hammer, A. W. De Silva, “Nitrogen laser system for diagnosing Z-pinch and X-pinch plasmas,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 2725-2729 (1997).
1. 9. A. Hariri, M. Tarkashvand, A. Karami, “Corona-preionized nitrogen laser with variable pulse width,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 61, 1408-1412 (1990).
1. 10. A. H. Farahbod and A. Hariri, “Application of generalized self-filtering unstable resonators to a N₂-laser pumped dye laser,” Opt. Commun. 108,84-90 (1994).
1. 11. W.Koechner, “Solid-State Laser Engineering,” Springer-Verlag, NY (1996).