Pumping of a strontium-ion recombination laser in a system with a cut-off thyratron

An investigation was made of a recombination laser utilizing ionized strontium vapor. Excitation was provided by a pulse generator with a direct discharge of a capacitor through a thyratron and a gas-discharge tube. The excitation conditions were optimized using a cut-off thyratron which made it possible to suppress completely the current and voltage pulses. Such sources are convenient for pumping recombination lasers and they are not critically dependent on the parameters of the active medium. An average output power of ~ 2 W and an efficiency of 0.1 % were achieved for tubes 15 mm in diameter and 27 mm long.