High-pressure electron-beam-controlled lasers utilizing infrared transitions in ArI

A study was made of a high-pressure pulsed laser utilizing 3d–4p transitions in the Ar atom and emitting at wavelengths of 1.27, 1.79, 2.08 and 2.40μ. When a 10-liter He–Ar active mixture was pumped by a beam of fast electrons, the output energy was 0.8J and the laser efficiency was>1%. The electron-beam-controlled excitation method was realized for the first time in the case of He–Ar and Ne–Ar mixtures and the output energy was 1.5J. A study was made of the spectral composition of the radiation as a function of the experimental conditions.