Kinetic rate constants for mercury halide lasers

This research is directed towards the measurement of total quenching rates for the Hg(6s6p) levels with a variety of chlorine and bromine halogen bearing molecules. This information is important to the development of more efficient mercury halide lasers. The objectives are to identify optimum halogen donors for all three lasers HgBr, HgCl, and Hgl. An attempt has been made to pump these blue-green lasers in a more conventional technique, such as flash lamp pumping. Research is continuing to uncover other blue-green laser systems through photodissociation and optical pumping of metal halides.