Optically pumped argon metastable laser with repetitively pulsed discharge in a closed chamber

Zhang, Z.; Lei, Peng; Song, Zhilong; Sun, Pengfei; Zuo, Duluo; Wang, Xinbing

doi:10.1063/5.0041297

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The lower electrodes are parallel to the upper electrode and placed about 0.2 cm apart. The peaking capacitors (CP1 and CP2) with a capacitance of 880 pF each are connected in parallel with each segmented electrode pair in the discharge chamber and connected together at the high-voltage terminals by thin wires to the previously developed pulsed DC power supply [20] via coaxial cable operating at 10 kHz. The inductance of L1 and L2 of the thin wires is estimated to be about 100 nH.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A home-made narrow linewidth (10 GHz) diode laser [26] was used for absorption spectroscopy to estimate the density of metastable atoms, and its power was attenuated to less than 1 mW by a neutral density attenuator. The setup and method are quite similar to those described in previous work [20] , so they are only briefly described here. The laser diode operating near 811.5 nm was aligned in the y direction and loosely focused on the discharge gap.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, high-pressure discharges with large discharge gaps (to several centimeters) usually need complicated high-voltage pulsed power supply and pre-ionization devices and are limited to low repetition rates, which causes the result that the easiest way to enlarge the plasma volume may be the expanding of the electrode area. In our previous work [20] , it was found that dense plasma could not be generated by using a pair of large plates in the pulsed discharge at high pressure. The inevitable thermal instability [21] at atmospheric pressure seems to be the main reason for the difficulty of large-volume DC pulsed discharges with high repetition rates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Segmented pulsed discharge for metastable argon lasing medium

et al. 2022

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Direct current pulsed discharge is a promising route for producing high-density metastable particles required for optically pumped rare gas lasers (OPRGLs). Such metastable densities are easily realized in small discharge volumes at near atmospheric pressures, but problems appear when one is trying to achieve a large volume of plasma for high-power output. In this work, we examined the volume scalability of high-density metastable argon atoms by segmented discharge configuration. Two discharge zones attached with peaking capacitors were connected parallelly by thin wires, through which the peaking capacitors were charged and of which the inductance functioned as ballasting impendence to prevent discharging in only one zone. A uniform and dense plasma with the peak value of the number densities of Ar (1s 5 ) on the order of 10 13 cm −3 was readily achieved. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using segmented discharge for OPRGL development.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Segmented pulsed discharge for metastable argon lasing medium

et al. 2022

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“…The critical point was how to produce dense metastables in a large volume, which was the main focus of the current research. For this purpose, different gas discharge methods were studied, including the pulsed DC 42 J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f radio-frequency 48 and microwave discharges 49 . Although significant progresses have been made, some limitations still exist.…”

Section: New Thoughts Towards Hels Inspired By Electric Rocket-enginesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The second fusion of laser and aerospace—an inspiration for high energy lasers

Xu¹,

Wang²,

Yang³

2023

OEA

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Since the first laser was invented, the pursuit of high-energy lasers (HELs) has always been enthusiastic. The first revolution of HELs was pushed by the fusion of laser and aerospace in the 1960s, with the chemical rocket engines giving fresh impetus to the birth of gas flow and chemical lasers, which finally turned megawatt lasers from dream into reality. Nowadays, the development of HELs has entered the age of electricity as well as the rocket engines. The properties of current electric rocket engines are highly consistent with HELs' goals, including electrical driving, effective heat dissipation, little medium consumption and extremely light weight and size, which inspired a second fusion of laser and aerospace and motivated the exploration for potential HELs. As an exploratory attempt, a new configuration of diode pumped metastable rare gas laser was demonstrated, with the gain generator resembling an electric rocket-engine for improved power scaling ability.

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“…Relevant prior research includes investigations of collisional state-to-state energy transfer kinetics, , collisional line broadening rates, − the kinetics of discharge production of Ar(1s 5 ) metastables, ,− and kinetics-based models of scaling the laser output to elevated powers. − Various laser and discharge design configurations have also been investigated. − In this paper, we describe experimental measurements and kinetics analysis of spatially resolved small-signal gain produced by optical pumping of Ar(1s 5 ) generated in microplasma arrays, as well as diode-pumped lasing, following the transition sequence illustrated in Figure . Analysis of the optical gain results required additional research to characterize the spatially resolved microdischarge temperatures and collisional line-broadening dynamics, and to verify the relevant microplasma spectroscopy and branching ratios; those results are provided in the Supporting Information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinetics of Metastable Argon Optical Excitation and Gain in Ar/He Microplasmas

et al. 2023

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The optically pumped rare-gas metastable laser is capable of high-intensity lasing on a broad range of near-infrared transitions for excited-state rare gas atoms (Ar*, Kr*, Ne*, Xe*) diluted in flowing He. The lasing action is generated by photoexcitation of the metastable atom to an upper state, followed by collisional energy transfer with He to a neighboring state and lasing back to the metastable state. The metastables are generated in a high-efficiency electric discharge at pressures of ∼0.4 to 1 atm. The diode-pumped rare-gas laser (DPRGL) is a chemically inert analogue to diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) systems, with similar optical and power scaling characteristics for high-energy laser applications. We used a continuous-wave linear microplasma array in Ar/He mixtures to produce Ar(1s5) (Paschen notation) metastables at number densities exceeding 1013 cm–3. The gain medium was optically pumped by both a narrow-line 1 W titanium-sapphire laser and a 30 W diode laser. Tunable diode laser absorption and gain spectroscopy determined Ar(1s5) number densities and small-signal gains up to ∼2.5 cm–1. Continuous-wave lasing was observed using the diode pump laser. The results were analyzed with a steady-state kinetics model relating the gain and the Ar(1s5) number density.

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Optically pumped argon metastable laser with repetitively pulsed discharge in a closed chamber

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

Segmented pulsed discharge for metastable argon lasing medium

Segmented pulsed discharge for metastable argon lasing medium

The second fusion of laser and aerospace—an inspiration for high energy lasers

Kinetics of Metastable Argon Optical Excitation and Gain in Ar/He Microplasmas

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