Investigation of the characteristics of an XeCl* discharge laser with ionization by a low-density electron beam

An investigation was made of the energy, spectral, and time characteristics of an XeCl* discharge laser stabilized by an electron beam. The electron-beam current density could be reduced to 0.1 mA/cm². The maximum output energy of ~10 J/liter was obtained for a mixture of the HCl:Xe:Ne = 1:10:500 composition at p = 4 atm. The absorption in the region of 500 nm within the emission band of Xe₂Cl was due to the absorption by Xe in lower metastable states.