Abstract

The barium vapor laser (BVL) is an efficient source of infrared radiation, oscillating on a number of transitions in the range 1.13-6.45 μm, with notable strong transitions at 1.13, 1.50,2.55, and 2.92 μm¹ Total average powers of up to 12.5 W (mainly at 1.13 and 1.50 μm) have been achieved at 0.54% efficiency with a pulse recurrence frequency (PRF) of 13.3 kHz.² The highest reported efficiency to date of 0.72% was achieved using the same system and corresponded to a laser output power of 3.1 W (at 8 kHz FRF). It is known^3,4 that the addition of hydrogen to copper vapor lasers (CVLs) can significantly increase (up to two times) both average laser power and efficiency. We now report large increases (40%) in both output power and efficiency of a BVL with the addition of hydrogen. We believe the efficiencies (up to 0.94% based on stored energy) obtained in the present work are the highest reported to date for a BVL.

© 1993 Optical Society of America