CW ultraviolet and visible laser action from ionized silver in an electron beam generated plasma

Continuous wave laser oscillation was obtained in the 318.1-nm and the 478.8-nm lines of Ag(II) in a neon-silver vapor mixture excited by glow discharge electron beams. Laser output powers of 14 and 60 mW were obtained in the ultraviolet and blue transitions, respectively, using nonoptimized optical cavities. The use of neon as a buffer gas significantly increases the number of possible laser lines that might be obtained with this type of excitation by means of selective energy transfer processes involving quasi-resonant collisions.<
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