Gain characteristics of large volume CuBr laser active media

The paper presents the experimental results on how the active additive HBr and the temperatures of the containers with CuBr influence the gain characteristics of large volume (8 cm bore, 90 cm long) CuBr laser active media with the external heating of the active zone of the gas discharge tube (GDT). It has been demonstrated that an increase in the concentration of CuBr vapors results in the contraction of the gain profile of the active medium, consistent with the increase of the gain factor in the axial region of GDT. The contraction is also imposed by HBr addition. Despite the fact that we used the external heating of GDT at the pump power of 1.5 kW and less, the energy input is still not sufficient to produce the effective generation for large active volume lasers; and it is evident from the small gain profile width. The maximum gain profile width under experimental conditions (consider Pout/Pin > 2) was 3 cm; this value was obtained without HBr-additive within the active volume, while the concentration of CuBr vapors being significantly less than optimal, that corresponds to the maximum average lasing power.

Research Highlights
► Gain characteristics of large volume CuBr laser active media have been studied.
► Increase in the concentration of CuBr vapors results in contraction of gain profile.
► The gain profile becomes narrow with HBr-additive.
► There is a threshold value of pump power for positive influence of HBr-additive.