Synthesis of rare gas-halide mixtures resulting in efficient XeF(C→A) laser oscillation

Abstract

Significantly improved XeF(C→A) laser performance has been achieved using electron beam excitation of complex, multicomponent gas mixtures specifically tailored so as to reduce medium transient absorption in the blue-green region. Use of Ar and Kr together as the effective rare gas buffer-energy transfer species, along with a combination of NF3 and F2 to produce the desired F-donor molecule characteristics, has permitted synthesis of near optimum medium properties for which XeF(C) is produced efficiently while transient absorption is minimized. With this technique we have achieved laser pulse energy density and intrinsic efficiency of 2.2±0.3 J/l and ∼1.5%, respectively, values that are comparable to those of the B→X rare gas-halide lasers.