Intrinsic efficiency comparison in various low-pressure XeF laser mixtures pumped at high excitation rates and with short-pulse electron beam pumping

Abstract

A comparison of XeF(B→X) laser efficiency is reported using four different gas mixtures at room temperature, i.e., Ar/Xe/F2 , Ar/Xe/NF3 , Ne/Xe/F2 , and Ne/Xe/NF3 . All mixtures were pumped at the same high excitation rate of 1.1 MW/cm3 with a 65 ns electron beam current pulse. The respective pressure for the Ne-based mixtures was 1170 Torr and for the Ar-based mixtures was 711 Torr. The measured intrinsic efficiency of all four mixtures was ∼2%, which is comparable to those reported in high-pressure mixtures pumped at low excitation rates with long electron beam pumping.