Stimulated emission mechanism and energy characteristics of manganese vapor laser

An investigation was made of the stimulated emission mechanism and energy characteristics of an He–Mn mixture. Inelastic collisions of manganese and helium atoms were found to have a considerable influence on stimulated emission. Mixing of the upper and lower laser levels resulted in the transfer of excitation from these to the neighboring levels, which maintained the stimulated emission in the collisional regime and gave rise to a strong competition between the stimulated emission lines. This made it possible to concentrate the major part of the output radiation energy (over 70 %) in the 534.1 nm line. The total output power was 3.5 W when the repetition frequency was optimal (5 kHz); the efficiency of laser action was 0.17 % in a selfheated tube whose diameter was 2 cm and volume was 145 cm³.