<title>Promising technological and medical applications of strontium vapor lasers</title>

Abstract

In the Laboratory of Laser and Crystal Physics of Tomsk State University, the laboratory model of a multiplewavelength strontium vapor laser (SVL) with output power of 5-7 W was developed and manufactured, a number of investigations aimed at an increase in the output characteristics of this laser were performed, and a record energy characteristics were achieved, including total lasing power of 13.5 W, lasing power at two wavelengths in the region of 3 μm of 4.5 W, and lasing power at two wavelengths in the region of 1 μm of 1.9 W. A maximum total energy per lasing pulse reached 1.26 mJ for pulse repetition frequency of 8.6 kHz. Investigations were performed aimed at visualization of IR radiation of the strontium vapor laser by the violet recombination line of the strontium ion at λ = 0.4305 μm. These investigations indicated the possibility of developing a high-power strontium vapor laser with high lasing efficiency, wide range of variations of pulse repetition frequencies, and simultaneous multi-wavelength generation. In the present work, a number of applications of the multi-wavelength strontium vapor laser are considered in detail, including precision controlled laser thermal cleavage of fragile nonmetallic materials (glass thermo-optical space radiators, display screens, and chips on a sapphire substrate), and infrared laser resonant ablation (microsurgery and polymer treatment). In addition to the above-listed technologies, laser systems based on compact strontium vapor lasers can be used successfully for atmospheric sensing and gas analysis.