Experimental method for identifying effective media for nuclear-pumped lasers

The methodology and results of experimental studies of active media for nuclear-pumped laser-a promising driver for inertial confinement fusion-are presented. The methodology used in studies involved measuring and analyzing spectroscopic parameters for various high-density gaseous mixtures excited by /sup 252/Cf fission fragments. As a result of measuring the time-dependent luminescence distributions for He-Ne, Ar-N/sub 2/, and He-Cd mixtures, some distinguishing features of nuclear-induced plasma kinetics attributed to the track structure of such plasmas have been observed. These results are discussed in order to establish a research direction to identify high-efficiency media for nuclear-pumped lasers.