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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Cesium laser operating in the blue by direct optical excitation of the 72P 3/2 state

Kirk C. Brown, Glen P. Perram

Published Feb 2, 2011• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A blue alkali laser operating by direct optical excitation of the 72P3/2 state of cesium is demonstrated. A mixture of cesium vapor and various buffer gases (4He, CH4, C2H6) were pumped with the output of a pulsed dye laser in a heated glass cell. The spin-orbit mixing and fluorescence quenching cross sections were calculated for each buffer gas using the time-dependent D1 (459 nm) side fluorescence. At certain temperatures and buffer gas pressures, a spatially coherent blue beam is produced in the forward direction. An analysis of the spectrum shows this beam contains both D1 amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS).

DOI
10.1117/12.875380

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Sensitized Fluorescence in Vapors of Alkali Atoms XIV. Temperature Dependence of Cross Sections for 72P1/2–72P3/2 Mixing in Cesium, Induced in Collisions with Noble Gas Atoms

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The cross sections for 72P1/2–72P3/2 excitation transfer in cesium, induced in collisions with noble gas atoms, have been determined in a series of sensitized fluorescence experiments at temperatures ranging from 405 to 630 K. The cross sections which lie in the range 0.06–20 Å2, exhibit a temperature dependence which, however, is less pronounced than in the more adiabatic case of the cesium resonance doublet.

Canadian Journal of Physics•Jun 1, 1974•15 citations
A blue alkali laser operating by direct optical excitation of the 72P3/2 state of cesium is demonstrated. A mixture of cesium vapor and various buffer gases (4He, CH4, C2H6) were pumped with the output of a pulsed dye laser in a heated glass cell. The spin-orbit mixing and fluorescence quenching cross sections were calculated for each buffer gas using the time-dependent D1 (459 nm) side fluorescence. At certain temperatures and buffer gas pressures, a spatially coherent blue beam is produced in the forward direction. An analysis of the spectrum shows this beam contains both D1 amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS).
We demonstrate the generation of coherent and collimated blue light (CBL) based on cesium (Cs) 6S1/2(F = 4)→6P3/2(F' = 5)→6D5/2(F'' = 6)→7P3/2(F' = 5)→6S1/2(F = 4) diamond-type atomic system in a heated vapor cell. Two infrared pumping lasers with wavelengths at 852 nm (6S1/2→6P3/2) and 917 nm (6P3/2→6D5/2), provide step-wise excitation to the 6D5/2 excited state, and induce strong two-photon coherence between the 6S1/2 state and 6D5/2 state. The atoms undergo a double cascade accompanied with the amplified spontaneous emission at 15.1 μm via the 7P3/2 intermediate excited state, and produce a beam of 455 nm (7P3/2→6S1/2) CBL with highly spatiotemporal coherence through a parametric four-wave mixing process. We investigate the influence of experimental parameters such as polarization combination of the two pumping lasers, and their power, and the temperature of Cs vapor cell on the CBL. Especially, we add a beam of 894 nm laser operating at the 6S1/2(F = 3) →6P1/2 transition as repumping laser, which can pump atoms back to the 6S1/2(F = 4) state from the 6S1/2(F = 3) state, thus significantly improving the power of CBL. This technique of the CBL enhancement via optical pumping is also useful for the other alkali metal atoms.
The method of sensitized fluorescence has been employed to investigate the [Formula: see text] excitation transfer processes in cesium induced in collisions with ground state cesium atoms. The cesium vapor density was kept sufficiently low to enable the cross sections for the mixing process to be determined under single collision conditions and to ensure that radiation trapping and quenching were negligible. A nitrogen laser pumped dye laser was used to excite the cesium atoms to each of the 72P levels in turn and measurements of the relative intensities of fluorescence yielded the following cross sections: [Formula: see text] These results are consistent with the empirical relationship between the magnitude of the cross sections and the fine structure splitting that has previously been determined for the alkalis.
Stimulated emission on the ultraviolet and blue transitions in Cs has been achieved by pumping via two-photon absorption and four-wave mixing for the pump transition 62S12→82D32,52. The emission performance of the optically pumped cesium vapor laser operating in ultraviolet and blue has been extended to 650 nJ/pulse for 387 nm, 1 to 3 μJ/pulse for 388 nm, 200 nJ/pulse for 455 nm, and 500 nJ/pulse for 459 nm. Emission performance improves dramatically as the cesium vapor density is increased, and no scaling limitations associated with energy pooling or ionization kinetics have been observed.
Photoassociation of alkali-rare gas atomic collision pairs provides an alternative approach to optically pumping atomic alkali lasers. Lasing on the 6 P21/2→6 S21/2 (D1) transition of Cs has been observed when the blue satellite of the 6 P23/2←6 S21/2 (D2) transition, peaking at ∼837 nm for mixtures of Cs vapor, Ar, and ethane, is pumped by a pulsed dye laser. For 50% output coupling, laser threshold with respect to absorbed pump energy is ∼40 μJ at T=435 K and the slope efficiency approaches 10%. The measured spectral breadth for the blue satellite (≳5 nm at 410 K) will accommodate cw pumping of the Cs laser with conventional semiconductor lasers.
Alternative wavelengths for optically pumped alkali vapor lasers have been developed using single photon excitation of higher lying P-states, stimulated Raman processes, two-photon excitation of S and D states, and electric quadruple excitation on S-D transitions. Two photon excitation of Cs 72D leads to competing and cascade lasing producing red and infrared lasers operating on the D-P transitions, followed by ultraviolet, blue, the standard near infrared DPAL transitions operating on P-S transitions. The S-D pump transitions are fully bleached at pump intensities exceeding 1 MW/cm2, allowing for lasing transitions that terminate on the ground state. The kinetics of these systems are complex due to competition for population inversion among the many optical transitions. An optically pumped mid-infrared rubidium pulsed, mirrorless laser has also been demonstrated in a heat pipe along both the 62P3/2 - 62S1/2 transition at 2.73 μm and the 62P1/2 - 62S1/2 transition at 2.79 μm with a maximum energy of ~100 nJ. Performance improves dramatically as the rubidium vapor density is increased, in direct contradiction with the prior work. No scaling limitations associated with energy pooling or ionization kinetics have been observed. Practical application for infrared counter measures depends on the further development of blue diode pump sources. Finally, stimulated electronic Raman scattering and hyper-Raman processes in potassium vapor near the D1 and D2 lines have been observed using a stable resonator and pulsed laser excitation. First and second order Stokes and anti-Stokes lines were observed simultaneously and independently for a pump laser tuning range exceeding 70 cm-1. When the pump is tuned between the K D1 and D2 lines, an efficient hyper-Raman process dominates with a slope efficiency that exceeds 10%. Raman shifted laser may be useful as a target illuminator or atmospheric compensation beacon for a high power diode pumped alkali laser.