Operation characteristics of alkali metal vapor lamps are described.Experiments show that the factors such as input power of lamps,filling quantity of mercury,alkali metals and noble gases,geometrical size and thermal conductivity of the condensor,and operation modes(Pulsed or CW)have direct influences on the distribution of the radiation energy for the lamps.The radiation efficiency for alkali metal lamps is one time higher and the over all laser efficiency is 20% higher than that of the xenon lamps with same size.