Abstract

Effects of rare gases, used as buffer gas in longitudinal discharge copper vapor laser, on the output power is not completely explained. Negative effects for any other rare gas than neon are commonly found.^1,2 We present the effects of rare gases for two different lasers: 40 and 80 mm of inner tube diameter. The use of powerful diagnostics: time resolved electron density measured from Stark effect,³ time resolved spectral intensities of lines from copper and the buffer gase, optical power, deposited power in the laser tube, pyrometric data…, allowed us to explain the positive or negative effects on the power with He, Ne, Ar, Xe, or a mixture of them.

© 1994 IEEE