Stimulated Raman scattering of XeF* laser radiation in H2--Part II

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) experiments in hydrogen have been performed with a collimated beam from ane-beam pumped XeF laser operating at 353 nm. An unstable resonator provided good beam quality at energies of about 1.2 J and pulse lengths of about 320 ns. A folded-path Raman cell allowed cell lengths to be continuously varied up to 11 m at a hydrogen pressure of 10 atm. Energy conversion efficiencies of >45 percent to first Stokes (S1) at 414 nm and >40 percent to second Stokes (S2) at 500 nm were observed with no indication of significant four-wave processes.