Neon Penning plasma laser pumped by a compact accelerator

The operational characteristics of a Ne laser (λ = 585.3, 724.5, and 703.2 nm) were determined during the afterglow stage (Δt ~ 50–120 ns) of a plasma created by a short (τ < 10 ns) pulse of an electron beam of j ~ 20–100 A/cm² current density, which was used to pump longitudinally or transversely dense (p ~ 0.5–3 atm) gas mixtures He–Ne–As (Kr) and Ne–H₂. It was found experimentally that a preliminary heating of the gas resulted in deterioration of the lasing characteristics. Calculations were made of the kinetics of relaxation of an He–Ne–As mixture and of the lasing characteristics of the yellow line of neon. The results of these calculations were in good agreement with the measured characteristics.