Abstract

We have previously reported¹ investigations of the response of a resistively-ballasted discharge XeCl laser to a relatively long (500ns) excitation pulse applied at very low pulse repetition frequency (1pps). Except for e-beam pumped devices the laser pulse obtained under those conditions has the longest duration (250ns FWHM, 20kW peak-power) yet reported for any XeCl laser. The striking feature of these results was that, although the power input to the discharge volume was fairly constant (750kW/cm³) for a full 500ns, the intensity of spontaneous emission showed a dramatic premature fall approximately 150ns before the end of the discharge excitation pulse. The laser output showed similar premature termination.

© 1983 Optical Society of America