New possibilities of the UV generation in noble gas ion lasers

摘要

Significant progress observed in last years in structure and technology of ion laser discharge tubes created new possibilities of the continuous generation of the ultraviolet radiation. Segmented metal-ceramic laser discharge tube was used in our experiments. CW generation of 3 new UV lines in double ionized argon and krypton was observed. Generation of two of these lines (Ar III, λ=350.4 nm and Kr III, λ=330.4 nm) was unknown up today even in high current pulse operation. The shortest (λ=324.8 nm) Kr III line, well known in pulse mode but unknown in CW operation is particularly important. Relatively low threshold current and comparable with known Kr III (337 nm) output power level makes easy its application. Laser UV operation on the mixture of two most important, active gases Ar and Kr were studied. Simultaneous generation of the all laser lines of Ar III and Kr III was achieved. For the optimal mixture composition relatively high power generation of 10 laser lines in a wide spectral range 324 - 363 nm were obtained. Preliminary experiments on determining the influence of high ionization potential inert gases (Ne, He) on the UV generation in the argon were carried out. Advantageous influence of Ne results on the distinct increasing of the laser power and similar distinct lowering the threshold current of the generation was observed.