The Hydrogen Dissociation Laser

The H2 dissociation laser buffered with argon using electron beam excitation is considered. The argon buffer greatly increases the light output from the upper laser level, compared with pure hydrogen. It does this by absorbing much more of the electron beam energy, and by transferring it more efficiently to the upper laser level. Upper laser level densities of 3 x 10 to the 13th power per cc are experimentally obtained. This should be sufficient for practical gain if auxiliary loss processes such as photoionization absorption do not cancel the gain. This problem has not yet been determined. If these adsorption processes are within estimated bounds, an energy density of approximately 5 joules per liter, over a pulse time of about 10 nsec, at an efficiency of about 10 percent for tunable radiation in the 0.4- to 0.6- micrometer wavelength range is predicted. (Author)