Influence of spectral line broadening on the mode structure of He-Kr and He-Ar gas lasers

Using the semiclassical perturbation approach, Stark broadening parameters for Kr II 469.4 nm, Ar II 476.5 nm, and Ar II 480.6 nm spectral lines have been determined. The obtained results have been used for the investigation of the role of the Stark broadening mechanism on the mode properties of hollow cathode excited noble gas mixture lasers. It has been found that for the He-KrII 469.4 nm laser broadening by neutral atom collisions is large enough to explain the single-mode operation of this laser, as opposed to the He-ArII 476.5 nm laser where Stark broadening also has to be taken into account to explain this property. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.