Abstract

Rare gas excimers are known to be one of the very few molecules that radiate in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region. A bulky electron beam excitation method has been the only possible method to achieve the stimulated emission using these molecules. We have been studying and developing several new methods to realize compact VUV light sources using various compact discharge techniques. No lasing, however, has been reported in the VUV spectral region using a conventional discharge technique except F₂ and ArF molecules at 157 nm and 193 nm, respectively. Here, to our knowledge, we have made the first observation of the stimulated emission of Kr₂ excimers at 147 nm excited by a conventional transverse discharge technique. The spontaneous fluorescence bandwidth of the 147 nm emission is observed to be 8~10 nm (FWHM), whereas the narrowing of the spectral width down to 1.8 nm (FWHM) has been observed at a centered wavelength of 147 nm. The pulse width of the emission waveform is longer than 1 µs at off center wavelength, which indicates a typical weak afterglow emission observed in a discharge. On the other hand, the pulse width dramatically changed to 100 ns (FWHM) at 147 nm.

© 2000 IEEE