TUNABLE SHORT-WAVELENGTH COMPACT NEW LASER

A CLASS OF POTENTIAL NEW EFFICIENT TUNABLE SHORT-WAVELENGTH HIGH-POWER-DENSITY LASERS IS BEING INVESTIGATED. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT IT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE TO TUNE THESE LASERS FROM FAR RED TO VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET (VUV) WAVELENGTHS AND TO ACHIEVE POWER DENSITIES OF 100KJ/LITEROR MORE. THIS LASER CONCEPT USES EXCIMER ACTION IN A CONDENSED PHASE,EITHER LIQUID OR SOLID, AND ISOPTICALLY PUMPING THE MEDIUM USING COOPERATIVE PHOTO-INDUCED CHARGE TRANSFER (CPICT). MIXTURES OF CONDENSED RARE GASES AND HALIDES ARE WELL SUITED TO CPICT. QUANTUM YIELDSNEAR 100% ARE EXPECTED. FOR INITIAL EXPERIMENTS, THE PUMP LIGHT FROM EXCIMER LASERS IS BEING USED. FOR EVENTUAL SYSTEM APPLICATIONS, OTHERSOURCES, SUCH AS FLASHLAMPS, WOULD BE INVESTIGATED. THIS WORK IS THE FIRST TO ATTEMPT TO DEMONSTRATE LASING IN A CONDENSED-PHASE RARE GAS HALIDE MIXTURE USING THE EFFICIENT CPICT PUMPING METHOD. A LIQUID PHASE VISIBLE (BLUE-GREEN) LASER IS BEING DEMONSTRATED. SPECTROSCOPIC PARAMETERS AND PUMPING SCHEMES ARE BEING EVALUATED APPROPRIATE FOR VUV LASERS. AN EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM IS BEING BUILT AND TESTED FOR THIS APPLICATION, AND THEORETICAL MODELS OF THE SYSTEM KINETICS ARE BEING DEVELOPED. THIS TUNABLE SHORT-WAVELENGTH LASER, WHEN SUCCESSFUL, HAS POTENTIAL APPLICATION AS A JAMMING-RESISTANT INTER-SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS LASER AND AS A POSSIBLE SPACE-TO-SUBMARINE COMMUNICATIONS LASER.