Abstract

We present a simple model of the angular intensity distribution of linear flash lamps for laser pumping application, which also takes into account the plasma column absorption during flash pulse. The model parameters are derived by single-shot measurements of plasma emission and transmission, performed with an imaging spectrometer and a CCD detector. The model consists in a linear superposition, wavelength by wavelength, of a surface (opaque) and a volume (transparent) emitter and represents a good approximation of the time-averaged lamp emission and absorption for pulse durations from 50 µs to 2 ms. This model is a suitable tool for reflector optimization of flash-lamp-pumped solid-state lasers, allowing complete wavelength-dependent ray tracing with currently available computing power. Some sample applications are also shown and discussed, with results of ray tracing for a slab laser and evaluation of the effects of lamp blackbody emission for several laser active media and flash lamp excitation pulses.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

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