Recombination laser utilizing a plasma jet of helium and xenon

Stimulated emission was obtained at λ = 2.026 μ from Xe I in a pulsed helium-xenon plasma jet emerging from a discharge channel through a nozzle or a multinozzle grid at a velocity of ~10⁵ cm/sec. A study was made of the spatial and temporal dependences of the output power as a function of the pressure and composition of the mixture, input energy, shape and duration of the current pulses. It was established that at sufficiently high helium pressures (p_He=100–300 Torr) the active levels were populated by a recombination mechanism.