Abstract

The barium vapour laser, as well as being a high average power source of near to mid-IR radiation, is also a useful test system for studying kinetics of metal vapour lasers. The barium atom and ion ground states have visible upward transitions of sufficient oscillator strength suitable for hook spectroscopy. In contrast, the more popular copper vapour laser requires broadband uv sources and detectors to access the copper ground state, and the copper ion density is impossible to measure by conventional techniques (absorption, emission, and anomalous dispersion spectroscopy). Hook studies of metal vapour lasers have been popular in the last ten years, however, there has been little work on spatially resolved density measurements, particularly of the ground state.

© 1994 IEEE