Two color pumping of the Rb D2 line laser (780 nm) through the photoassociation of Rb-Ar or Rb-Xe thermal pairs: Realization of a quantum efficiency above one
Abstract
A two color process for optical pumping of the Rb D2 line laser (λ = 780 nm) in Rb vapor-rare gas mixtures is demonstrated to yield an overall quantum efficiency > 1. Combining photoexcitation of the Rb D2 line blue satellite in Rb-Xe or Rb-Ar mixtures with free ← free optical pumping of the A2Π12←X2Σ12+ transition at large internuclear separation (R > 5 Å) also increases the laser efficiency and pump absorption coefficient, relative to the single color, B ← X pumped system, by a factor of 1.7 and more than an order of magnitude, respectively. Simultaneous photopumping of Rb-Xe thermal collision pairs at 760 nm (D2 satellite) and 794.3 nm results in a 780 nm (D2 line) laser with a quantum efficiency of 1.008 which corresponds to the removal of ∼102 cm–1 (12.6 meV) of thermal energy per emitted photon.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jul 27, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4927536
Entities
People
- A E Mironov
- James Gary Eden
- William Goldshlag
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign