Patent ID: 7061960

Claim:
An alkali vapor optical amplifier, comprising: a gain medium comprising a mixture of at least one buffer gas and an alkali atomic vapor having a D 1 transition, wherein said at least one buffer gas has the dual purpose of collisionally broadening a D 2 transition of said alkali atomic vapor and collisionally transferring pump excitation from the upper level of said D 2 transition to the upper level of said D 1 transition at a rate larger than the radiative decay rate of either of these two levels; and a pump laser emitting pump radiation at a wavelength λ(D 2 ) with an emission spectral width within the range from 1–6 nm (FWHM), for optically pumping said gain medium at a wavelength of said D 2 transition, including optically pumping in the Lorentzian spectral wings of said D 2 transition, wherein laser light at wavelength λ(D 1 ) operatively passed through said gain medium will be amplified at a wavelength of said D 1 transition.