Optimisation of the parameters of an XeCl laser with a double electric discharge and a magnetic switch

Abstract

A numerical model is developed of an XeCl laser with an additional power supply and a saturable inductor. The model is checked against experimental results obtained for lasers with different energy parameters. In a wide range of output energies the best fit to experiments is obtained on the assumption of dissociation of NeXe+ ions in the discharge and of equality of the discharge and electrode areas. Optimisation of the composition of the active medium of a 10-J XeCl laser, as well as of the cavity parameters, discharge area, and interelectrode distance (or the initial voltage across a storage capacitor) of this laser is carried out either for a fixed initial voltage across the storage capacitor (fixed interelectrode distance) and for given parameters of the circuit. It is shown that the lasing efficiency, relative to the energy stored in the capacitors, can reach ~6.5% both in the presence and absence of dissociation of NeXe+ ions, but in these two cases there is a major difference between the optimal conditions (composition, discharge area, etc.) under which the maximum efficiency is reached. Under optimal conditions the excitation is aperiodic, i.e. all the energy is deposited in the active medium during the first half-period of the discharge of the storage capacitor.