Strontium vapour laser with a pulse repetition rate of up to 1 MHz

Abstract

For the first time it has been shown that the pulse repetition rate of the lasers on the self-terminating transitions of metal atoms may be as high as ∼1 MHz. The highest pulse repetition rate equal to ∼830 kHz was realised on self-terminating IR transitions in Sr I atoms (λ = 6.456 μm and ∼3 μm) and in Sr II ions (λ ∼ 1 μm) in a strontium vapour laser operating in a self-heating pulse periodic regime. The energy yield of a Sr laser was found to be proportional to the energy input into the active medium in a wide range of excitation pulse repetition frequencies; in this case, the average total specific output laser power is equal to 30 — 40 mW cm-3.