Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Electrical Engineering
Committee Chair
John D. Williams
Committee Member
Lingze Duan
Committee Member
Richard L. Fork
Subject(s)
Solid states lasers, Semiconductor diodes, Gas lasers, Xenon
Abstract
The pursuit of novel, hybrid methods of achieving lasing from the rare gases has recently been a topic of interest in the field of high energy laser systems. This investigation presents the construction and execution of an experimental setup designed to generate metastable xenon (Xe*) to determine its potential to perform as a high power laser gain medium in a similar capacity as the alkali metals in Diode Pumped Alkali Lasers. A capacitively coupled radio frequency discharge was used to light plasma from naturally abundant xenon, thus exciting the 6s[3/2]2 metastable state. The metastable xenon was probed with a tunable diode laser at 882.2 and 904.8 nanometers, and absorption was detected to verify the presence of Xe* atoms. The absorption profiles are reported with in-depth calculations of the isotope shift and hyperfine structure of each absorption line. Preliminary calculations for the properties of the proposed laser system are also presented.
Recommended Citation
Andreozzi, Jacqueline Marie, "Generation of radio frequency induced metastable xenon as a gain medium for diode pumped rare gas laser systems" (2013). Theses. 35.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/35