Study of Ne:He Plasma of a Periodically Pulsed Discharge for Optically Pumped Rare Gas Laser

Abstract

Optically pumped rare gas lasers (OPRGL) suggested recently as a chemically inert analog of diode-pumped alkali lasers are under extensive study at present. OPRGLs employ metastable atoms of heavier rare gases (Rg*) in He bath produced in discharge plasma. Ar* OPRGL is the most popular system at present, due to presence of a narrow band diode pump and abundance of Ar. However, Ne* OPRGL is interesting due to its visible lasing wavelength at 703.2 nm nm and presence of channels of energy transfer in Ne-He plasma that facilitate Ne* production. We present the first results of experiments with Ne* OPRGL that include Ne* number density in its active medium, and lasing experiments to determine pumping threshold for s5 → p9 transition in a transverse pumping configuration using a narrow band pulsed dye laser as a pump.