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Some factors affecting the pumping efficiency of optically pumped lasers
1The General Electric Company Limited,Central Research Laboratories, Hirst Research Centre, Wembley.
Applied Optics
|January 9, 2010
Summary
Xenon flash tubes radiate like blackbodies, but emissivity variations explain power fluctuations. Improving the flash tube
Area of Science:
- Laser physics
- Spectroscopy
- Plasma physics
Background:
- Xenon flash tubes are crucial for laser pumping.
- Understanding their radiative properties is key to improving laser efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate xenon flash tube properties for laser pumping efficiency calculations.
- Determine factors limiting radiative efficiency and overall laser performance.
Main Methods:
- Time-resolved spectroscopy to analyze flash tube radiation.
- Blackbody temperature and emissivity calculations.
- Modeling energy transfer to the laser crystal.
Main Results:
- Flash tube radiation closely approximates blackbody emission between 6000-7000 K.
- Emissivity variations, not temperature, explain power output changes.
- Calculated pumping efficiency is approximately 0.5%, limited by low intrinsic radiative efficiency (28%).
Conclusions:
- Reconversion of unabsorbed light can enhance effective radiative efficiency.
- The primary limitation on laser efficiency is the intrinsic radiative efficiency of the flash tube.
- Increasing radiative efficiency to 90% could boost overall laser efficiency to 9%.
