Modelling of short-pulse generation in rare-gas halide excimer lasers I. The model and its verification

In part I of this paper, a comprehensive model of a short-pulse rare-gas halide excimer (RGHE) laser consisting of excimer systems with the ground state both unbound and bound is presented. It takes into account the most important fast relaxation processes occurring in the active medium, variable cavity losses programmed externally, practical layout of the cavity elements, and also nonlinear saturable and non-saturable absorption in the laser. General equations for a short-pulse RGHE laser as well as their simplified variants for KrF and XeCl lasers are formulated. Good correspondence of the model to the results of numerous experiments described in the literature is demonstrated. In part II, the model will be applied in numerical investigations of short-pulse generation in KrF and XeCl lasers by fast mode locking using a square-wave-driven Pockels modulator.