Optical maser employing multiple gases

Claim 1

APPARATUS ADAPTED FOR THE STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION IN THE INFRARED PORTION OF THE OPTICAL SPECTRUM COMPRISING MEANS FOR CONTAINING A GASEOUS ACTIVE MEDIUM, MEANS DEFINING A LOW-LOSS INFRARED BEAM PATH THROUGH SAID CONTAINING MEANS, A GASEOUS MIXTURE DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CONTAINING MEANS AND COMPRISING AN ACTIVE GAS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF KRYPTON, XENON AND RADON AND AN AUXIALIARY GAS COMPRISING HELIUM AND HAVING A HIGHER IONIZATION POTENTIAL THAN SAID ACTIVE GAS AND HAVING ALL OF ITS METASTABLE ENERGY STATES DISPOSED TO PREVENT ENERGY TRANSFER THEREFROM TO SAID ACTIVE GAS, THE RATIO OF SAID AUXILIARY GAS TO SAID ACTIVE GAS BEING AT LEAST 500:1, SAID ACTIVE GAS HAVING AN ENERGY LEVEL SYSTEM CHARACTERIZED BY AT LEAST ONE METASTABLE EXCITED STATE WITH A LARGE CROSS SECTION FOR EXCITATION IMPACT AND AT LEAST ONE RELATIVELY SHORT-LIVED LOWER EXCITED STATE, AND MEANS FOR PRODUCING A RELATIVELY HIGH ENERGY ELECTRON DISCHARGE IN SAID MIXTURE, A POPULATION INVERSION BEING PRODUCED BETWEEN SAID METASTABLE AND SAID LOWER STATE OF SAID ACTIVE GAS BY ELECTRON IMPACT UPON ATOMS OF SAID ACTIVE GAS, AND MEANS FOR ABSTRACTING AN OUTPUT FROM SAID APPARATUS.