New Class of Excimer-Pumped Atomic Lasers (XPALS)

Research demonstrates the viability of an atomic laser having a quantum efficiency greater than one.

Air Force Research Laboratory, Arlington, Virginia

The focus of this research program was the investigation of XPAL properties, and new pumping schemes, as well as modeling, and measuring critical photoionization and excited state-excited state reaction rates in order to improve the performance of XPALs.

The first several experiments were conducted to measure the smallest energy defect that can exist between the pumped and lasing states in a three-level laser system. This is a problem critical to the cooling of the laser medium by pumping it through the lower lying states. In short, Rb-Xe gas mixtures were used to demonstrate the collapse of a three-level laser when the thermal energy kT reaches approximately the energy defect between the laser and pumped levels.