Wide-aperture electric discharge system with ultraviolet preionization for a pulse-periodic XeCl laser

A wide-aperture (6×6cm) XeCl excimer laser, with an output energy of 5 J and capable of operation in the pulse-periodic regime, was made. A correlation was established experimentally between inhomogeneity of the preionization and inhomogeneity of the volume discharge and of the lasing distribution. The rate of rise of the current in different regions of the discharge was found to depend on the circuit inductance of the region considered. "Hot spots" were discovered in the discharge over a dielectric surface which was employed for the ultraviolet preionization and the radiation from these spots ensured considerably more efficient preionization of the gas than did the radiation from the other parts of the surface discharge.