The Application of Laser Resonance Saturation to the Development of Efficient Short Wavelength Lasers.

Laser resonance saturation represents an extremely rapid and efficient new method of coupling laser energy into either a gas or plasma. We have continued to study this process both theoretically and experimentally and have shown that this interaction can lead to a very high degree of ground level burnout for the laser pumped species. During the past year we have undertaken the first time resolved stark width measurements of the free electron density within a sodium plasma created by laser resonance saturation. Currently we are exploring the feasibility of using this ground level burnout feature as the basis of a new approach towards the development of an efficient short wavelength laser. In a preliminary experiment we have been able to show that sudden joule heating of a thin foil looks promising as a technique for creating the steep gradient of neutral atoms necessary for charge exchange formation of a ground level population inversion within the species having suffered a ground level burnout through laser resonance saturation.