Relaxation of metastable atoms during the afterglow in a copper vapor laser

A study was made of the spatial kinetics of the decay of metastable atoms, resolved over the radius of a copper vapor gas discharge tube, under conditions typical of the self-heating regime. The investigations were carried out for a time interval of 1–100μsec after the excitation pulse, with a radial resolution of 2–3 mm, in the entire lasing temperature range. A profile of the population of the metastable states having a minimum on the axis transformed into a profile with a maximum on the discharge axis during the interpulse time interval. An analysis was made of the possible processes during the afterglow of the discharge and estimates were obtained of the electron density and temperature in the laser plasma.