A discharge-excited SrBr2 vapour laser

A new-style discharge tube for a metal vapour laser has been designed and built. SrBr2 was successfully used to replace the metal strontium as a working medium. Multi-line laser oscillations from resonance to metastable transition of strontium atoms (6.45 mum), ions (1.03 mum/1.09 mum) and from strontium ion recombination (416.2 nm/430.5 nm) have been obtained through longitudinal pulsed discharge. The problem of an incompatibility reaction between metallic strontium and the discharge tube in the strontium vapour laser has been solved. Some proposals are presented for further developments of strontium halide lasers.