Effects of helium addition to Ar-Xe mixtures in high-pressure atomic-transition xenon lasers

The output energy and spectral distribution of the atomic-transition xenon laser have been investigated with ternary mixtures based on Ar-Xe to explore kinetic issues and to enhance particular lines of the xenon laser pumped by an e-beam and e-beam sustained discharge. Addition of helium into the Ar-Xe mixtures increased the 2.03 mu m line energy by a factor of 3-5 while suppressing the 1.73- mu m line even during single-line oscillation. The maximum output energy obtained at 2.03 mu m was 1.2 J/L and the intrinsic efficiency was approximately 1%. Effects of neon or krypton addition have also been studied with e-beam sustained discharge pumping.< >