Kinetics of the active media of nuclear-pumped lasers based on transitions in carbon and nitrogen atoms

The first detailed time-dependent kinetic model of a nuclear-pumped laser is developed for transitions in carbon and nitrogen atoms present in Ne-Ar- N2-CO- H2- O2 mixtures. Numerical simulation is used to show that the main mechanism of pumping the upper active levels of carbon and nitrogen atoms in Ne-CO- N2 mixtures is three-body recombination of atomic carbon and nitrogen ions. Dissociative recombination of an ArC+ ion becomes the main pumping channel when argon is added to a mixture. The optimal conditions and the ultimate laser output characteristics are identified. The calculated results are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data. (active media)