Improvement of the stability characteristics of pulsed laser radiation at atomic carbon transitions

In order to use an atomic carbon transition laser (e.g., in atmospheric optics), the stability of its temporal and energetic characteristics must be improved. Experiments are conducted on a laser with a gas-discharge tube having an internal diameter of 28 mm, and a discharge gap of 9 cm. A diaphragm with a 0.7 mm opening is used to obtain the light intensity distribution of a cross-section of the laser beam. It is shown that the duration of the lasing pulse and its delay, with respect to the current pulse, remain unchanged for eight hours of operation, and the radiation power fluctuations do not exceed 7.5%, if the laser tube is heated to 250 C, or if the working gas mixture is pumped through the gas discharge tube.