Spontaneous and induced emission of XeCl* excimer molecules under pumping of Xe – CCl4 and Ar – Xe – CCl4 gas mixtures with a low CCl4 content by fast electrons and uranium fission fragments

The spontaneous and induced emission of XeCl* excimer molecules upon excitation of Xe – CCl₄ and Ar – Xe – CCl₄ gas mixtures with a low CCl₄ content by high-energy charged particles [a pulsed high-energy electron beam and products of neutron nuclear reaction ²³⁵U(n, f)] has been experimentally studied. The electron energy was 150 keV, and the pump current pulse duration and amplitude were 5 ns and 5 A, respectively. The energy of fission fragments did not exceed 100 MeV, the duration of the neutron pump pulse was 200 μs, and the specific power contribution to the gas was about 300 W cm^-3. Electron beam pumping in a cell 4 cm long with a cavity having an output mirror transmittance of 2.7% gives rise to lasing on the B → X transition in the XeCl* molecule (λ = 308 nm) with a gain α = 0.0085 cm^-1 and fluorescence efficiency η ≈ 10%. Pumping by fission fragments in a 250-cm-long cell with a cavity formed by a highly reflecting mirror and a quartz window implements amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with an output power of 40 – 50 kW sr^-1 and a base ASE pulse duration of ~200 ms.