Progress in ionized-argon lasers

During the past five years, the development of gas lasers, as measured in maximum available, continuously operating optical output power, has increased at the rate of about ten times per year. This growth, however, has not occurred in only one type of gas laser-four different wavelengths, in three gaseous media, have been responsible for maintaining this growth envelope. The author discusses the discovery of ionized noble gas lasers and their modus operandi, and presents the standard operation of ~ one-watt units to exemplify most of the salient characteristics of this kind of laser. The nature of the problems involved, and their tentative solutions in the quest for higher argon laser power (5-100 watts), is the subject of the main section of this article. This is followed by a few remarks on present and predicted applications for the interesting-and important-argon laser.