On the Stark broadening of the 537.8 nm and 441.6 nm Cd⁺ lines excited in a hollow cathode laser discharge

Abstract

On the basis of available experimental and theoretical data the role of the Stark effect in the homogeneous line broadening of the green and blue laser lines in a hollow cathode He-Cd⁺ laser discharge is discussed. It is found, that at typical laser discharge parameters, for the 538 nm line the Stark line-width amounts to Δν_s(538 nm)=290 MHz, which is comparable with the natural line-width broadened by collisions with neutral atoms Δν_c(538 nm)=370 MHz. For the 442 nm line, however, both are significantly smaller: Δν_s(442 nm)=83 MHz and Δν_c(442 nm)=200 MHz. The increased homogeneous line-width can result in single mode operation for the green line, while for the blue one it does not.