/S.5N

1. /S.5N IOS-I.660.Y.t.".,.., PhYfi"1. ~()()6.\;11,16. N". /~,I'I', /6/6-/6~O, GAS C ."AIK "N"/lwllnltrl't,i"d"" " (R.sli,,', 21N~ . Origin,,' Tt,( C Aslm, LId, ~'N~ LASERS Effect of a Magnetic Pulse Compression Circuit on the Operation of a Halide Laser s. BchroUlini~ln, A. R. N3mdarh,1\1. *, Z3nd", R. Barryh, and A. Hojabric " La.\.er ResearchCentel;Atomic EnergyOrganizationof Iran, ~ O. Bo.\:1-1155-1339. Tehran.Iran bDf.'partementofPhysics.Azarbaijan Tarbiat moallem University. Tabriz.Iran c Departement ofPhysics. Islamic A:ad Unh'ersity. Karaj Branch. Karaj. Iran *e-mail: sbehrouzi@aeoi.org,ir Received July 17,2006 Abstract-A magneticpulse compression(MPC) circuit is usedto investigatethe operationof a thyratronand the output parametersof a copper chloride laseras a kind of halide copper vapor laser, The inversevoltaoeon the thyratron anode,maximum and rise time rate of the current,and lossesof the thyratron are determinedand compared in circuits with MPC and without MPC. Experimentaldatashows that, in the circuit with MPC, the lifetime of the thyratron is increased,and'the output power of the laseris also increased about 60%, while by the width of the optical output is decreasedby up to 53C;(. , PACSnumbers:42.55.Lt, 42.60.Lh DOl: 10.1I 34/S1054660X06I 20048 1. INTRODUCTION smaller losses and extended service time [6]. In this Considerable attention has been given recently to :-V°rk. by ai;Jplying an ~PC .as ~ nonlinear saturable lasers utilizing the vapors of different compounds of Inductance In the electrIcal clrcul~ of a cucllaser, we copper. A technique for using copper chloride (cucl) as show that t~e loss~s o~ e~erg~ I.n the t~yratr~n are the source of copper atoms in a copper-vapor laser reduced; therefore, Its llf~t~me IS Increase~ while the (CVL) was first reported in 1973 [1, 2]. Two principal outpu~power of the l~ser ISIncre~sed by up to 60% and outputs having wavelengths of 510.6 and 578.2 rim the width of the optical output is decreased by up to have been obtained from a cucllaser, similar to CVL about 53%, ones. Therefore, a cucl laser has the same attractive applications of CVL in different areas of science and technology, especially in atomic vapor isotope separa- 2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE tion, as a pumping source of dye lasers [3,4]. The laser discharg,e.tube is shown schematically in The operating temperature depends on the vapor Fig. 1. The discharge is contained within a quartz tube pressure of the compounds and is about 400°C for a of 20-mm bore between electrodes which are separated cucl laser, which is much lower than that of the CVL, by 33 cm. Four diaphragms are necessary in order to which must be operated in the range 1550-l700°C. confine and stabilize the discharge. The total length of This advantage yields a significantly shorter warm-up the laser tube, including the extended window regions, time for the cucllaser. Short warm-lip times are impor- is 80 cm. One heated side-arm reservoir of cucl, which tant to reduce downtime in commercial applications is located at the middle of length of the tube, is used to [5]. To pump the active medium of these lasers effi- seed the discharge zone with cucl vapor. The tempera- ciently, an excitation pulse sholiid have a steep front tllre of the reservoir is typically 410°C, while the dis- and a duration comparable to the inversion lifetime. charge channel is held at a slightly elevated tempera- Most metal vapor lasers are charged by resonant charg- ture, so that the side reservoir temperature controls the ing circuits. These circuits require a thyratron to con- vapor pressure of cucl in the main tube. v~~tthe en~rgy stored in the c~paci~or t~ a fast pulse of Each electrode is a quartz side-arm with a tungsten- d . fill d ' quartz "eed th h ' 't b hloh-amplltude current and hIgh rIse time needed for the excitation of the laser. .(I -~oug In i. S ase a~ is e wit h copper filings, to whIch the dIscharge is attached. Two cool A magnetic pulse compression (MPC) driver can traps are also introduced between the electrodes and improve the laser excitation p.ulserise time and increase each end, which are closed by an end cap with a win- the amount of energy supplied to the laser tube. The dow and a pair of gas ports for the flow of the buffer MPC as a b~ffer. for. better impedance matching gas. The laser cavity is formed by a flat dielectric- between the drIver cIrcuIt and the laser tube load allows coated high reflector at both laser wavelengths, and an the thyratron to operate at a lower cun"ent, resulting in uncoated qllartz fl,lt acts as an output coupler. :In the