XEF LASER WITH OPTICAL PUMPING BY SURFACE DISCHARGES

Abstract

We have investigated the spatial, temporal, and spectral characteristics of a XeF laser in the visible region (0.48 μm) and the UV region (0.35 μm). We have determined experimentally the dependence of the output energy on the vapor pressure of the original XeF2 gas for various configurations of the optical pumping source and various resonator Q factors. Output energies of 117 and 174 J, respectively, were achieved on the C–A and B–X transitions of the XeF molecule, with internal efficiencies of 2.6% and 3.6%. We studied the directivity of the output from the XeF (C–A) laser as photolysis waves of various shapes were generated in the active media. The output wavelength in the visible region of the spectrum can be tuned. We investigated the emission characteristics of segmented high-current open surface discharges as a function of the rate of energy deposition in the plasma in the working medium of the XeF laser.