physics Physics B ° " ' " " Chemistry © Springer-Verlag 1991 Spectral Line Competition in a Coaxial Electron-Beam- Pumped High Pressure Ar/Xe Laser

Abstract. In order to study the kinetic mechanism of the e-beam pumped Ar/Xe laser, the temporal profiles of individual laser lines during multiline oscillation have been measured as a function of power deposition (1-12MW/cm 3) and gas laser pressure (2-14bar) using a short pulse (30 ns) coaxial electron beam as excitation source. It was found that the optimum output energy at each pressure was obtained at the same specific power deposition. Strong line competition has been observed between the 2.65 and 1.73 ~tm transitions. In order to explain our results we suggest that besides electron collision mixing (ECM) between the 5d and 6p levels of Xe, there is also a redistribution between all 6p levels which strongly favours the lower levels at higher pumping densities. PACS: 34.80 D, 41.80 Dd, 42.55 F The atomic xenon infrared laser has attracted the at-tention of researchers ince an electrical effÉciency of nearly 1 % was reported for this laser by Newman and DeTemple using an electron beam preionized ischarge [1]. The atomic xenon laser operates on six infrared tran