Hollow cathode metal ion lasers

Abstract

A new class of metal ion lasers with significant CW output power in the UV (220-320 nm) and near IR (800-2000 nm) spectral regions is described. In a hollow cathode discharge the upper laser levels are excited via charge transfer collisions between ground state buffer gas ions and ground state metal atoms. At the present stage of development, hollow cathode metal ion lasers are shown to be comparable in UV output power to rare-gas ion lasers but with lower threshold currents by a factor of more than twenty. Visible output powers are lower than rare-gas ion lasers. In the text we present device progress to date, measurements of important plasma parameters, and an outline of potential applications of hollow cathode metal ion lasers.