<title>Generation and propagation of shocks in discharge-pumped excimer laser</title>

Abstract

Shock waves and disturbed gas generated by an excitation discharge in an excimer-laser cavity have been visualized by the shadowgraph technique. The influences of HCl and Xe concentration on the generation of shock waves have been investigated in a He/Ne gas mixture. At the higher HCl concentration, the distribution of gas density in the discharged region, where the gas is rarefied due to the expansion, seems to be strongly jagged, and the strong shock waves propagate toward the upstream and the downstream directions along the flow axis. At the lower HCl concentration even with the high Xe concentration, on the other hand, the density distribution in the heated column is fairly smooth and the shock waves are very weak. We have also successfully demonstrated the double-pulse glow discharge of a pulse interval of 200 microsecond(s) using a high-speed He-Ar gas flow of approximately 200 m/s. At the pulse interval of 100 microsecond(s) , however, the second discharge, which seems to be arc, occurs through the heated column which is swept downstream but still contains the waste products of the first discharge.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.