Discharge Excitation of Dye Vapors.
Abstract
Experiments have been conducted to assess the feasibility of obtaining a discharge-pumped dye vapor laser. A 15 (or 50) cm active length, UV-preionized device has been developed which exhibits a specific power loading of the medium of approx. 5 MW - /cm-1/cc and will operate continuously at temperatures exceeding 400 C. Recently, hydrogen thyratron switching of the device and corona preionization have been installed to minimize jitter and dye fragmentation. Optimization of the rare gas/N2 diluent mixture has been completed and fragmentation studies for several dye molecules have been conducted. POPOP and alpha-NPO are excellent in the latter regard but Coumarin 6 rapidly decomposes in the discharge environment. The fluorescence efficiency of alpha-NPO is only 40% of that for POPOP under comparable conditions. BBO and PBBO are similar in structure and molecular weight to POPOP and appear to be excellent candidates for discharge excitation. Fluorescence and small signal gain measurements are in progress. Keywords: Dye vapor; Discharge; Visible laser; Preionizer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA188428
Entities
People
- James Gary Eden
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign