No abstract

Efficient, long pulse lasing on the XeF(C→A) electronic transition has been demonstrated in an electron beam pumped device at a moderate pump rate of ∼250 kW/cm3 . A mixture of F2, NF3, Xe, Kr, and Ar at a total gas pressure of 1.6 atm was excited with a 700-ns pulse. Lasing occurred for 400 ns during the excitation pulse. The laser spectrum showed a peak wavelength of 483 nm and a bandwidth of 16 nm. An intrinsic efficiency of 0.7% was determined. The laser output energy was 1 J. Further improvements in laser performance are expected under fully optimized conditions.

Intrinsic efficiency comparison in various lowpressure XeF laser mixtures pumped at high excitation rates and with shortpulse electron beam pumping

No abstract

The performance of the XeF(C→A) laser, pumped at a rate of 290 kW/cm3 with a 600-ns electron-beam pulse, has been improved through the optimization of the laser gas mixture and resonator output coupler reflectivity. An intrinsic efficiency of 1.1% and a specific output energy of 2 J/ℓ have been demonstrated. A uniformly pumped region of the gain medium was selected for diagnosis in these measurements. In a separate experiment with larger diameter mirrors, a total output energy of 4 J was recorded. These are the highest specific and total output energies reported thus far for a directly electrically excited XeF(C→A) laser. The laser pulse duration was 350 ns (FWHM), and the laser bandwidth was 160 Å. The small-signal net gain was measured during the electron-beam pulse at various wavelengths, and a peak gain of 0.4%/cm was observed. The sidelight fluorescence spectrum was also recorded.