Effect of the degree of preionisation of a gas on the homogeneity of a volume discharge and generation of radiation in a wide-aperture XeCl-laser

The results of investigation of an electric discharge XeCl laser with active region apertures 8 × 11, 10 × 15, and 15 × 15 cm are presented. The preionisation of the Ne – Xe – HCl working mixture was performed by soft X-rays and a low-current electron beam, which provided the initial concentration n₀ of electrons in the gas from 10⁶ to 2 × 10¹³ cm^-3. For n₀ < 10¹² cm^-3, the homogeneity of the initial electron concentration and of an electric field in the discharge gap have a considerable effect on the homogeneity of the volume discharge and output characteristics of the laser. For n₀ ≥ 10¹² cm^-3, a homogeneous volume discharge is ignited and is stable if the inhomogeneity of the electric field in the discharge gap does not exceed 10%. A storage capacitor charged to double the voltage of the quasi-stationary discharge operation is sufficient for discharge formation. It is shown that an improvement of the volume discharge homogeneity and a decrease in the size of the discharge chamber make it possible to increase the efficiency of a wide-aperture XeCl laser.