High-power gas-discharge excimer ArF, KrCl, KrF and XeCl lasers utilising two-component gas mixtures without a buffer gas∗∗Reported at the Fifth Russian-Chinese Workshop and School for Young Scientists on Laser Physics and Photonics (RCWLP&P, Novosibirsk, August 26 – 30, 2015).

Abstract

Results of an experimental study of the influence of a gas mixture (laser active medium) composition on an output energy and total efficiency of gas-discharge excimer lasers on and molecules operating without a buffer gas are presented. The optimal ratios of gas components (from the viewpoint of a maximum output energy) of an active medium are found, which provide an efficient operation of laser sources. It is experimentally confirmed that for gas-discharge excimer lasers on halogenides of inert gases the presence of a buffer gas in an active medium is not a necessary condition for efficient operation. For the first time, in two-component gas mixtures of repetitively pulsed gas-discharge excimer lasers on electron transitions of excimer molecules and , the pulsed energy of laser radiation obtained under pumping by a transverse volume electric discharge in a low-pressure gas mixture without a buffer gas reached up to and a high pulsed output power (of up to ) was obtained at a FWHM duration of the KrF-laser pulse of . The maximal total efficiency obtained in the experiment with two-component gas mixtures of KrF and XeCl lasers was 0.8 %.