Relaxation of the concentration of metastable copper atoms in the afterglow of a CuI laser with a supraoptimal wall temperature

The method of resonant light absorption was used to investigate the time dependences of the concentrations of ²D_3/2 and ²D_5/2 metastable copper atoms in the afterglow of a CuI laser. The change from green to yellow emission, which occurred at high concentrations of the copper iodide molecules and for delays close to the maximum, was due to an increase in the relative population of the metastable ²D_5/2 level at the end of the afterglow. This was evidently caused by the electrons being heated as a result of the quenching of excited copper halide molecules formed by recombination of the copper and halogen atoms.