Proposal for vacuum-ultraviolet anti-Stokes Raman lasers based on the group VI elements

Metastable inversions in the 1S0 state of the group VI elements (oxygen, sulfur, and selenium) are proposed as host media for a new class of anti-Stokes Raman laser. Selective photodissociation of N2O, OCS, or OCSe with appropriate VUV wavelengths can create 1S0 inversion densities in excess of 10 to the 16th atoms/cu cm. Using this population inversion to upconvert tunable input lasers should result in the creation of efficient, high-power lasers over the 100-206-nm spectral region.