A practical, visible nuclear-pumped laser (NPL) has been sought at the University of Illinois and other laboratories for a number of years. Yet, the results from successful visible NPLs to date have not been fully satisfactory, e.g., the threshold pumping power is too high for conventional applications. Progress in recent studies of 3He-Ne-H2 as a candidate NPL operating in the visible region at 585.3 nm on the 2P1,-1S2 Ne transition is described. We obtained lasing on the above transition for 3He-Ne-H2 concentrations of 1,140, 588, and 412 torr, respectively, with the laser cavity placed in the beamport of the University of Illinois TRIGA reactor. The threshold thermal neutron flux is 1014 n/cm2-s, corresponding to a threshold pumping power of 5 W/cm3.
Study of Thermal Neutron Flux and Generated Energy from Linac using CR-39 Detector in Liquid Medium
