Abstract

Continuing improvement in the efficiency of XeCl discharge lasers has increased the interest in these devices for a variety of applications, but the apparent limiting of the specific energy density to ≤ 1 J/liter-atmosphere requires that these lasers be scaled in discharge volume for higher output energies. As a first step in our studies of the scalability of rare gas halide discharge lasers we have been investigating the performance characteristics of a XeCl laser with 10 cm electrode separation, nominal discharge width of 7.5 cm, and 40 cm discharge length. This laser is x-ray pre-ionized and driven by a 200 nS water line with 0.67 ohm impedance.

© 1983 Optical Society of America