The paper discusses the performance characteristics of a Nd: glass laser system designed for laser produced plasma studies. It consists of aQ-switched oscillator followed by two amplifier stages. The output behaviour of the oscillator, i.e. laser pulse duration, peak power and optimum coupling, has been studied and is in good agreement with theory. Gain characteristics of amplifiers were obtained as a function of various parameters. Energies in excess of 7 J with pulse durations as small as 18 nsec were obtained giving rise to 400 MW peak power.

Fluorescence was excited in theB¹Γ_u −X¹Σ_g⁺ system of Na₂, using the 488 and 514.5 nm radiations from a cw Ar⁺ laser. The fluorescence was monitored through a double monochromator employing photoelectronic detection. In the spectrum resulting from the 488 nm excitation, apart from a large number of fluorescence series, a previously unreported series could be identified. On either side of all the members of the strongest series a large number of collisional satellites were observed and assigned.