Nuclear pumped lasers at the Institute of Technical Physics

Experiments were conducted in order to investigate fast nuclear reactor-pumped lasers. Results are reported for laser generation in He-Cd lasers in the 4416 A, 5337 A, 5378 A, 8067 A, 8531 A, 1.43 micron, and 1.65 micron wavelengths. Lasing was also achieved with a He-Zn laser at the 7479 A wavelength. The He-Xe and He-Ar-Xe active media operating at the 5d-5p atomic Xe transitions were also investigated. The total laser energy was measured for the combined 2.65 and 2.63 micron lines. In addition, lasing was also obtained at the 1.73 micron, 2.026 micron, and 2.6 micron wavelengths for these two lasers. Results for neon nuclear-pumped lasers are also presented. Experiments were conducted for He-Ne-Ar and Ne-Kr mixtures at 2 atm and 1 atm, respectively. Lasing parameters are discussed for the 5853 A wavelength in the He-Ne-Ar laser and the 7032 A and 7245 A wavelengths in the Ne-Kr laser. The main results are presented in tabular form. The highest output powers obtained for all of the above lasers was 1kW for the visible wavelengths and 2.6 kW for the IR wavelengths.