KINETICALLY TAILORED PROPERTIES OF ELECTRON-BEAM EXCITED XEF(C-]A) AND XEF(B-]X) LASER MEDIA USING AN AR-KR BUFFER MIXTURE

Use of two-component buffer gas comprised of Ar and Kr results in electron-beam excited XeF(C yields A) laser pulse energy and intrinsic efficiency values comparable to those of UV rare gas-halide lasers. Measurements have been performed of transient absorption confirming that the primary effect of a buffer comprised of Ar and Kr is a significantly lower level of ionized and excited species that absorb in the blue-green spectral region. Spectral analysis of a variety of mixtures shows that the Ar-Kr buffer also benefits XeF(C yields A) laser performance due to an increase in gain in the 400-450 nm region caused by the presence of the Kr//2 F excimer. In addition, a large increase in absorption at approx. 351 nm, also due to Kr//2 F, suppresses oscillation on the competitive XeF(B yields X) transition and, for certain conditions, makes efficient simultaneous oscillation of the XeF(B yields X) and XeF(C yields A) laser transitions possible.