Improved lasing properties of the H�N 2 + system at 391 nm and 428 nm by H2 admixture

Abstract

The He/N2 system lasing on the N2+(B)→N2+(X, 0) transition at 391 nm and on the N2+(B)→N2+(X, 1) transition at 428 nm was investigated by e-beam excitation. By adding H2 the lower laser state is efficiently quenched, which leads to a drastic improvement of the laser properties. A kinetic model is proposed which accounts for the experimental results. For a laser amplifier operated at 5 bar total efficiencies of 0.6% and 0.7% are predicted for the 391 nm and the 428 nm transitions respectively.