Investigation of physical processes in a pulsed barium vapor laser

Pulsed emission of the 1.5 micron line of the barium atom was investigated. The method of double pulses was used to excite a discharge tube (diameter 15 mm and length 50 cm) and the dependences of the parameters of the excitation and lasing pulses on the delay time between the two excitation (current) pulses were determined. The same tube was used in a study (by the method of resonant absorption at the active transition frequency) of the kinetics of decay of the 5d(1)D2 metastable active level of the barium atom in the afterglow of a pulsed discharge in mixtures of barium vapor with various buffer gases. The main physical factor which limited the maximum repetition frequency of the lasing pulses at the 1.5 micron wavelength was the high population of the lower active level at the moment of arrival of the next excitation pulse in the active medium.