Efficiency of an electron-beam-pumped atomic xenon laser

An experimental investigation was made of an atomic xenon laser in a wide range of active mixtures, pressures, and of the durations as well as specific powers of the electron-beam pump pulses. The highest efficiency was obtained at a pressure of about 1 bar in an Ar — Xe mixture with a xenon content of ~ 1% at specific pump power densities 1 — 3 kW cm^-3 bar^–1 . High-efficiency quasi-cw operation was achieved when the beam current pulse duration was ~ 100 μs and the specific pump power density was ~ 1 kW cm^–3 bar^–1 . Quasi-cw operation with the duration of the output radiation pulses ~ 2.3 μs was attained at a specific pump power density ~ 90 W cm^–3 bar^–1 .