Copper vapor laser

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Copper vapor laser (CVL) uses vapors of copper as the lasing medium. It produces green laser light at 510.6 nm and yellow laser light at 578.2 nm. The pulse width is typically from 5 to 60 ns, and peak power from 50 to 5000 kW. Its pulse repetition frequencies can be 2 to 100 kHz.

It is one of the laser constructions that can be realized as homemade.

Lasers using pure metal vapour produced from an elemental copper source are difficult to construct because of the extremely high temperature, about 1500 Celsius, necessary to create such vapour, severely limiting the choice of materials to construct the vapour containment vessel and mirrors. Copper halides, specifically copper chloride, copper bromide and copper iodide, have been substituted as they will form vapours at much lower temperatures, in the range 300-600 Celsius, but operation at such temperatures is still difficult. Copper compound vapours also increase the complexity of the pump signal applied to the device; typically two energising pulses in quick succession are required, the first to dissociate vapour molecules, and the second to actually cause the dissociated ions to lase. Operating temperature can be further reduced by the use of copper nitrate or copper acetylacetonate, whose vapours give peak laser output power at 180 and 40 Celsius, respectively.

Copper vapor lasers are used in some machining and laser cutting applications. They can also be used in AVLIS isotope separation systems.