ABSTRACT
We summarize experiments aimed at comparing the effect of a prepulse on the J=0−1 3p-3s line intensity in zinc, copper and nickel. A simple qualitative analysis is proposed to understand the specific behaviour observed for zinc. A half-cavity is now routinely used in our experiments to generate a high-brightness zinc laser suitable for applications. Wc show that the alignment of the half-cavity mirror mostly influences the output angle of the 21.2 nm laser beam, while the output intensity is only weakly affected.
