Measurements of copper ground-state and metastable level population densities in a copper-chloride laser

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Abstract
The population densities of both the ground and 2D5/2 metastable states of copper atoms in a double‐pulsed copper‐chloride laser are correlated with the laser energy as a function of time after the dissociation current pulse. Time‐resolved density variations of the ground and excited copper atoms were derived from measurements of the optical absorption at 324.7 and 510.6 nm, respectively, over a wide range of operating conditions in laser tubes with diameters from 4 to 40 mm. The minimum delay between the two current pulses at which lasing was observed is shown to be a function of the initial density and subsequent decay of the metastable state. Similarly, the maximum delay is shown to be a function of the initial density and decay of the ground state.