Mirrorless Lasing in Optically Pumped Rubidium Vapor
Abstract
Mirrorless lasing has been successfully demonstrated in a Rubidium heat pipe. Lasing was observed on the 6(2)P(sub 3/2)-6(2)S(sub 1/2) energy transition at 2.73 microns and on the 6(2)P(sub 1/2)-6(2)S(sub 1/2) transition at 2.79 microns. The transitions were optically pumped from 5(2)S(sub 1/2)-6(2)P(sub 3/2) at 420.2 nm and from 5(2)S(sub 1/2)-6(2)P(sub 1/2) at 421.7 nm, respectively. The 5(2)S(sub 1/2)-6(2)P(sub 3/2) transition was excited over a 36 GHz band, while the 5(2)S(sub 1/2)-6(2)P(sub 1/2) transition was excited over a 24 GHz band. Both pump transitions showed a high degree of saturation and only a small fraction (<1%) of the incident pump energy was absorbed. Output energies of up to 5 nJ were obtained at 2.73 microns and of up to 5.4 nJ at 2.79 microns when pumped at pulse energies of ~4 mJ. Both transitions experienced bleaching at this ~4 mJ pump energy, limiting further IR output energy. Increasing rubidium concentration at bleached pump energies showed no increase in laser energy after ~170 deg. C, likely due to second order processes. Slope efficiency for both transitions, however, increased linearly with rubidium concentration up to 11 x .000001 The addition of small amounts of argon, helium, and ethane (5-45 Torr) were found to fully quench lasing action on both transitions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA582423
Entities
People
- Ryan M. Richards
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology