Possible application of a volume avalanche discharge initiated by an electron beam for designing a krypton dimer laser

Abstract

The emissive and amplifying properties of volume nanosecond discharge plasma formed at high pressures in krypton have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is theoretically shown that lasing can be obtained in this type of discharge at krypton pressures exceeding 6–7 atm. In the discharge gap with a cathode of small curvature radius, volume discharge without preliminary ionization is obtained at a high pressure and intense krypton dimer emission that peaks at a wavelength of 146 nm is detected. It is shown that, upon excitation by a volume avalanche discharge initiated by an electron beam, no less than 90% of the energy in the range 120–540 nm is emitted by krypton dimers. At a krypton pressure of 1.5 atm, an energy of ∼30 mJ of spontaneous emission into the total solid angle and a radiation pulse width at half maximum of ∼240 ns are obtained.