Kinetics of the active medium of a laser with nuclear pumping of transitions in the oxygen atom

A detailed transient kinetic model is developed for a laser with nuclear pumping of transitions in the oxygen atom (λ = 2.65 and 2.76 μm) in He — Ne — O₂ — N₂ — H₂ — (CO, NO) mixtures. Numerical simulation is used to show that the main pumping mechanisms of the upper active levels are three-body recombination of atomic oxygen ions with electrons and the transfer of excitation, accompanied by oxygen dissociation, from metastable helium atoms to oxygen. The optimal lasing conditions and the ultimate output characteristics of the laser are found. The calculated results are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data.