Kinetic processes in a double pulse copper halide lasers afterglow

The distinctive electron density and temperature relaxation kinetics features in copper halide lasers afterglow are studied in comparison with copper-vapor laser data. A double-pulse laser model is considered. The total output energies of the 510.6 nm and 578.2 nm Cu-laser lines for large time delays, the time dependencies of the copper metastable levels populations, and the electron density are measured. It is shown that a large fraction of energy released in the process of copper and halogen atoms recombination goes for heating the electron gas and that the dissociative attachment of electrons to copper-halide molecules does not influence the electron density time variation.