Abstract

The gain of gas lasers increases when the active medium experiences an external field strong enough to remove the M sublevels degeneracy, and to induce ΔM=±1 transitions simultaneously. On the contrary, no gain increase is observed by inducing ΔM=0 transitions. The same effect in passive absorbers is known as Non Linear Hanle Effect (NLHE), and leads to an absorption increase in inhomogeneously Doppler broadened lines^[1]. If an electric discharge pumps the laser, the laser gain may increase also by a magneto plasma effect (MPE), that leads to an increase of the electron density (longitudinal field) or of the electron temperature (orthogonal field). The two effects, NLHE and MPE, combine to give a significant power enhancement (PE) effect on commercial ion lasers.

© 1992 IQEC