Studies of Ruby Superfluorescence and Population Inversion

Abstract
It was found that by observing the fluorescent intensity of ruby along its longitudinal axis during pumping, an appreciable amount of information may be obtained. It was observed that the time at which population inversion occurs during a pump cycle is directly observable from the time‐resolved fluorescent intensity. A method for establishing the actual population in the metastable state from the fluorescent intensity is demonstrated and cross correlated with two other methods for measuring population inversion. The rate equation describing population inversion has been solved including the nonlinear stimulated emission loss term, and complete agreement with experiment is demonstrated. For the particular pumping geometry used, maximum energy available, and ruby quality and size, maximum metastable population of 1.21×1019 ions/cm3 was achieved, representing 75% inversion.

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