Influence of the addition of mercury and bromine on the characteristics of an electric-discharge HgBr laser

Experiments were made on an electric-discharge HgBr laser with mercury and bromine vapor added to its gas mixture (4 X 10¹⁹ cm ^– 3 of Ne, 4 X 10¹⁸ cm ^– 3 of N₂, 5 X 10¹⁶ cm ^– 3 of HgBr₂). The energy of a laser pulse was halved for a bromine concentration of ~ 10¹⁶ cm ^– 3. No reduction in the laser pulse energy was detected when mercury was added to the active medium at concentrations up to 5 X 10¹⁶ cm ^– 3. A discussion is reported of the possibility of using mercury vapor in the gas mixture of an HgBr laser in order to increase its working service life in the pulse-periodic regime.