Experimental evidence for the role of Xe_2~+ in pumping the Ar-Xe infrared laser

摘要

In a series of experiments on the Naval Research Laboratory's Electra generator, we have measured the dependence of the laser output in the principal (1.733 μm) transition of the Ar-Xe laser upon both initial gas temperature and Xe concentration. The data show that the laser output is less sensitive to gas temperature when the laser gas contains more Xe. The destruction rate of the molecular ion ArXe~+ increases rapidly with gas temperature, but that of Xe_2~+ does not. Interpreted with a kinetics model, these data indicate that both Xe_2~+ and ArXe~+ contribute to the pumping of the ArXe laser.