Active media on metal atom transitions lasing in the near IR range of the spectrum

The work is devoted to the study of the energy characteristics of active media on the IR transitions of barium (1.5 μm), europium (1.76 μm) and manganese (1.29-1.399 μm) atoms in gas-discharge tubes with an active zone volume of 88-314 cm3. MnCl2 and MnBr2 lasers were chosen as the active media on the transitions of the manganese atom. Record-breaking specific output parameters of these media have been achieved to date. In lasers on the transitions of barium and europium atoms, the generation power of 5 W was obtained with a specific power of 57 and 16 mW/cm3, respectively. In the MnBr2 laser, the total radiation power for the visible and IR spectral regions also reached 5 W using the HBr additive. The specific generation power was 32 mW/cm3. Taking into account the high amplification characteristics of such active media, it can be concluded that they can be used in image brightness amplifiers for visualization of processes screened by background illumination in the near IR region of the spectrum.