High-gain ultraviolet Cu-II laser in a segmented hollow cathode discharge

We report measurements of the discharge and laser characteristics of an ultraviolet (UV) copper ion laser radiating on the 248.6- and 270.3-nm transitions. Our 50-cm active length laser operates in a high-voltage segmented hollow cathode discharge with Brewster windows and external mirrors. The lowest threshold currents were 7.3 and 5.6 A for the above transitions, respectively. The threshold current was found to increase with decreasing active length. We obtained superior gain characteristics (to 11.2 and 8.8%/m gain for the 248.6-and 270.3-nm transitions, respectively, at 0.3 A/cm linear current density) compared with previous studies on UV Cu ion lasers in conventional hollow cathode discharges.