Enhancement of the output energy and service life of a compact gas-discharge pulse-periodic excimer XeCI laser

An investigation was made of some physicochemical ways of increasing the output radiation energy and the service life of a compact gas-discharge pulse-periodic excimer XeCI laser. The energy and the service life were enhanced by a change of the composition and of the temperature regime in working mixtures. For example, when boron chloride (BCl₃) was used as the halogen carrier, the energy of the output pulses increased by 20% and the service life was improved by 50%, compared with the traditionally used hydrogen chloride (HCI). Cooling of the working mixture of an XeCI laser approximately doubled the output energy and increased the service life to ~10⁶ pulses. The reasons for the improvement in the characteristics were the large rate constants of the formation of negative Cl^- ions in mixtures with BCI₃, fast accumulation of nonvolatile products in reactions of BCI₃ with impurities, and precipitation of aerosols on a heat exchanger in the gas channel.