Use of a laser medium in photography of a surface shielded by a plasma layer

A strongly self-luminous object, in the form of a quartz sample melted by CO₂ laser radiation, was photographed. This object was illuminated with luminescence from the active medium of a copper vapor laser and then the reflected luminescence was amplified in the active medium and the image of the object was formed. The spectral brightness of the luminescence in the active medium of the copper vapor laser was several orders of magnitude higher than the blackbody spectral brightness for any attainable temperature. It was this circumstance that made it possible to observe processes such as the melting of quartz, to examine its molten surface, etc.