Abstract

We have developed a computational model for pulse amplification by a pulsed electric discharge laser amplifier. We applied the model to the copper vapor system, for which the oscillator has previously been modeled on a 0-D level¹ and a 1-D level.² The laser intensity transport equations are set up on a ray and differenced with respect to the longitudinal coordinate. Amplified spontaneous emission is handled similarly. Rate equations for the atomic levels are set up in each longitudinal cell. The motion of the atoms is negligible on the nanosecond time scales of interest. The entire system of equations is advanced in time by a standard mathematical package. Working with a selection of input pulse shapes and energies, we obtained predictions for the amplified signal as a function of time.

© 1987 Optical Society of America