Two-stage excitation model of diode pumped rare gas atoms lasers

Diode pumped rare gas atoms lasers (DPRGLs) are potential candidates of the high-energy lasers, due to the advantages of high laser power and high optical conversion efficiency. In this paper, a two-stage excitation model of DPRGLs is established including gas discharge excitation and semiconductor laser pump to study energy loss mechanism and obtain total efficiency. The results of numerical simulation agree well with those of Rawlins et al.'s experiment. Through parameter optimization, the total efficiency and optical conversion efficiency reach 51.5% and 62.7% respectively, at pump intensity of 50 kW/cm² and reduced electric field of 8 Td. Parameter optimization of two-stage excitation lasers is theoretically studied, which is significant for the DPRGLs design with high total efficiency.