Abstract

An atomic iodine laser as a candidate for direct solar-pumped gas lasers was excited with a 4-kW beam from a Xe-arc solar simulator. The spectrum of the beam resembles the air-mass-zero solar spectrum with an average spectral deviation of 20%. The effective pumpband for the perfluoropropyliodide C₃F₇I lasant was in the near UV 250-290-nm range, which amounts to 1 % of the total solar radiation.

© 1981 Optical Society of America