Design aspects and parametric characterisation of a neutral rare gas laser

A neutral rare gas laser has been built and used to produce continuous wave output at several wavelengths in the mid-infrared region. The laser design is described and results are presented of a parametric study of its operating characteristics. Mixtures of He-Ar, He-Kr, and He-Xe were used. The output power at each wavelength was monitored as a function of the discharge parameters to determine the optimum working regimes. This General Document is a paper presented at the 8th Conference of the Australian Optical Society, held at the University of Sydney, NSW, in Feb. 1993.