Ion lasers employing gas mixtures

Claim 2

Apparatus for the stimulated emission of radiation, comprising means forming a region in which the stimulated emission of radiation may occur, means including discharge pumping apparatus for providing metastable helium atoms (He*) in said region, means for providing a vapor of an element ( phi ) in said region, said element participating substantially in the reaction He* + phi - ( phi )* + He + e , + kinetic energy where ( phi )* is the upper energy level of an ultraviolet radiative transition in said element, the element being selected from the group consisting of cadmium, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, gallium, indium, thallium, beryllium, tin and lead, said vapor providing means producing a source temperature of the vapor within approximately + or - 4 percent in terms of absolute temperature above and below the temperature at which maximum laser output occurs, means for stimulating said ultraviolet radiative transition to provide stimulated emission of ultraviolet radiation, and means for extracting a portion of said ultravIolet radiation from said region.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the means forming a region includes a plurality of reservoirs for said metal, said reservoirs being spaced along said forming means.

Claim 4

Apparatus for the stimulated emission of radiation, comprising means forming a region in which the stimulated emission of radiation can occur, an auxiliary gas comprising helium contained within said forming means, a pair of reservoirs opening into said forming means and containing cadmium in vaporizable form, means for heating said reservoirs to a temperature of at least 230* C. to vaporize cadmium into said auxiliary gas, said temperature promoting Penning collision interaction with metastable atoms of said helium, means for supplying a discharge in the auxiliary gas and the vaporized cadmium to singly ionize the cadmium via said Penning collision interaction, said discharge having a current value helping to maintain the cadmium vapor in said region within a temperature variation from approximately 230* C. to approximately 260* C. to sustain said Penning collision interaction, means for stimulating the emission of coherent radiation from said cadmium at 325 nm. in the ultraviolet, including means for extracting a portion of said radiation.

Claim 5

Apparatus according to claim 5 in which the stimulating means comprises an optical resonator including reflectors having substantially greater reflectivity at 325 nm. than at 441.6 nm. in the visible region of the spectrum.

Claim 6

A Penning collision excited gaseous ion laser comprising a laser tube containing at least approximately 2 Torr of helium gas, means including at least one cadmium reservoir connected to said tube to supply vapor into said tube at a temperature at least as great as approximately 230* C., means for supplying a discharge in the helium gas and the vaporized cadmium to promote Penning collisions therebetween and to maintain the temperature of said cadmium vapor not greater than approximately 260* C., and an optical resonator aligned with the axis of said tube and including reflectors selected to sustain laser oscillation at 325 nm. in the ultraviolet.

Claim 7

A Penning collision excited gaseous ion laser comprising a laser tube containing at least approximately 4 Torr of helium gas, means including at least one zinc reservoir connected to said tube to supply zinc vapor into said tube at a temperature of at least approximately 290* C., means for supplying a discharge in the helium gas and the vaporized zinc to promote Penning collisions therebetween and to maintain the temperature of said zinc vapor not greater than approximately 345* C., and an optical resonator aligned with the axis of said tube and including reflectors selected to sustain laser oscillation at 747.9 nm.

Claim 8

A Penning collision excited gaseous ion laser comprising a laser tube containing at least approximately 8 Torr of helium gas, means including at least one tin reservoir connected to said tube to supply tin vapor into said tube at a temperature of approximately 1045* C., means for supplying a discharge in the helium gas and the vaporized tin to promote Penning collisions therebetween and to maintain the temperature of said zinc vapor not greater than approximately 1155* C., and an optical resonator aligned with the axis of said tube and including reflectors selected to support laser oscillations at 645.3 nm.

Claim 9

A Penning collision excited gaseous ion laser comprising a laser tube containing at least approximately 8 Torr of helium gas, means including at least one tin reservoir connected to said tube to supply tin vapor into said tube at a temperature of approximately 1045* C., means for supplying a dischaRge in the helium gas and the vaporized tin to promote Penning collisions therebetween and to maintain the temperature of said zinc vapor not greater than 1155* C., and an optical resonator aligned with the axis of said tube and including reflectors selected to support laser oscillations at 684.4 nm.