Abstract

Discharge pumped rare-gas halide lasers are attractive pump sources for non-linear UV generation techniques such as multiwave mixing and Raman conversion because of their high peak power. To extend the performance of these lasers to much higher average powers, we have used high velocity closed loop gas flow systems that allow both 100 and 1000 Hz operation at average powers ranging from 1 to greater than 100 Watts at 308 nm. At the highest powers, active heat exchangers and sidewall acoustic wave dampers using lossy materials are required, careful design of flow bends and the laser head interface is also required to prevent flow separation.

© 1982 Optical Society of America