Diffuse discharge interruption induced by excimer lasers in a pure N2 gas

Abstract

We observed the complete discharge opening by ArF (193 nm) or KrF (248 nm) laser irradiation in pure N2 gas of a few Torr, using a discharge tube with a pair of cylindrical electrodes. With an ArF laser fluence of 27 mJ/cm2(10 ns FWHM: full width at half-maximum) and at a N2 pressure of 1.0 Torr, a discharge current of 1.1 mA(0.156 mA/cm2) was interrupted completely, and the observed maximum current decay rate was 770 A/s at a sustaining discharge current of 0.75 mA. The discharge interruption depended on the laser wavelength. The discharge current over 0.27 mA could not be interrupted by a KrF laser irradiation of 27 mJ/cm2 (20 ns FWHM). The discharge current was not interrupted at all by XeF (351 nm) laser irradiation. Moreover, the discharge interruption strongly depended on the laser fluence, total pressure, and discharge current. Finally, we addressed the kinetic processes relevant to the discharge interruption in pure N2 ArF or KrF laser irradiation.