Influence of background radiation from a copper vapor laser with an unstable resonator on lasing of dyes

An experimental investigation was made of the divergence of radiation from a copper vapor laser with an unstable resonator. It was found that the beam from this laser could be regarded as consisting of two components with divergences greater and smaller than a certain optimal value. The relative contributions to these components varied with the pulse repetition frequency. It was found that when a dye laser was pumped with radiation from this copper vapor laser, the energy contributed by the component with the greater divergence to the dye lasing did not exceed 1%.