Design and construction of prototype transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) nitrogen laser energized by a high voltage electrical discharge

Abstract

The present study reports design and construction, of a prototype of Transversely Excited Atmospheric (TEA) nitrogen laser, and a high voltage power supply to excite N2 gas in air, while air is used as an active lasing medium. A Blumlein line discharge circuit is used for operation of this laser. The high voltage is generated by a fly back transformer based power supply varying from 10 kV to 20 kV. The wavelength (337.1 nm) of TEA nitrogen laser is measured employing a standard commercial spectrometer and the laser output energy of 300 μJ is measured from the constructed system. Different parameters such as beam profile, laser output spectrum, laser efficiency, and variation of E/P (Electrical field/Pressure) value with respect to input voltage and electrodes separations are studied in order to optimize the overall operational efficiency of present nitrogen laser. The analysis of the high voltage prototype appeared in this designed source has also been made and described in this paper.

Keywords

• Laser
• Nitrogen laser
• TEA nitrogen laser
• High voltage power supply