Ultraviolet Afterglow Lasing in an Ar–N2–He Mixture

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the possibility of efficient lasing at the C3Πu–B3Πg transition of the N2 molecule in the afterglow of a high-pressure Ar–N2–He mixture excited by an electron beam with an average electron energy εe ≈ 300 keV, an average current density j ≈ 30 A/cm2, and a FWHM duration τ ≈ 100 ns. With a laser pulse duration of ∼110 ns, the laser energy is ∼65 mJ.