Abstract

Discharge-pumped rare gas halide lasers have been demonstrated to have high efficiency and to operate reliably, but the single-pulse energies attainable from these devices have been limited by the difficulties associated with scaling to larger volumes. In this paper we discuss the preliminary results obtained from a 12-liter active volume device. This laser system, which is capable of exciting up to 30 liters, uses x rays to preionize the gas. The design and operation of the system to date are presented.

© 1985 Optical Society of America