New laser oscillations in the N atom quartet manifold

Three new laser oscillations have been observed in a pulsed discharge of He and N2. These oscillations at 1.0568, 1.0611, and 1.0623 μm are fine-structure components of the 3d⁴P → 3p⁴P⁰transition of N(I). The three observed transitions (out of a possible seven) are those with the largest transition matrix elements that do not share a common lower state.