Abstract
THE spectral character of the giant pulse1 emitted by a ruby laser has been investigated to determine the suitability of this source for plasma light scattering experiments. A ‘Trion LS-4: laser’ system consisting of a 10 cm × 1.3 cm × 1.3 cm total internal reflexion ruby with 90° c-axis orientation, pumped by means of a 10,000 joule spiral xenon flash-lamp, has been modified to produce giant pulses by the addition of a Kerr cell, a Nicol prism, and a 48 per cent reflectivity dielectric mirror acting as external reflector. Giant pulses which last for less than 40 n sec were produced by switching the Kerr cell with a low inductance thyratron circuit. The Kerr cell was normally gated open for 1 µsec. Throughout the experiment the pumping energy delivered to the flash-lamp was maintained at 6,700±300 joules, which is about 25 per cent above threshold for normal relaxation oscillations in this crystal at the temperature at which it was operated, namely 126±3° K. High-resolution spectroscopy of these pulses was carried out with a variable gap silvered Fabry–Perot interferometer which had a resolving limit of 0.011 cm−1 for 1 cm separation of the mirrors. To ensure that only giant pulse light was recorded, a Barr and Stroud framing camera operated at a speed of 10 µsec per frame was used to photograph the interference fringes on Gaevert infra-red sensitive film (‘Scientia 52A86’).
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References
McClung, F. J., and Hellwarth, R. W., Proc. I.E.E.E., 51, 1962 (1963).
D'Haenens, I. J., and Asawa, C. K., J. App. Phys., 33, 3201 (1962).
Hughes, T. P., Nature, 195, 325 (1962).
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BRADLEY, D., DESILVA, A., EVANS, D. et al. Spectra of Giant Pulses from a Ruby Laser. Nature 199, 1281–1282 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/1991281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1991281a0
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