Lasing in Rb pumped by dissociation of Rb-Ar excimers

A self-made 15 ns, 10 mJ pulsed optical parametric oscillator was used as the pump source, peaking at 756.3 nm, with a bandwidth more than 0.5 nm. The 75 mm long gain medium was filled with metallic Rb and 67 kPa Ar at room temperature. When the temperature of gain medium reaches 136 ℃, we obtain Rb laser at 780 nm, and the output energy increases with temperature.