High-gain hollow-cathode metal ion lasers for the UV and VUV

The segmented hollow-cathode pumping discharge gives a higher gain on the He-Cu/sup +/ 781, He-Au/sup +/ 282, and Ne-Cu/sup +/ 270-nm lines at lower discharge current and input power than do the conventional hollow-cathode, hollow anode cathode and helical hollow-cathode discharges. The segmented hollow-cathode offers the prospect of compact low-cost repetitively pulsed UV laser for applications to biomedical and other spectroscopically-based instrumentation. The projections for increasing the gain on the He-Cu/sup +/ VUV lines indicate that laser action on one or more of these lines may be achieved.>