Lasing in xenon pumped by a radially converging electron beam

A 9-liter laser pumped by a radially converging electron beam was built. An Ar–Xe mixture was excited using a 50-μs pulsed beam current. A specially developed accelerator ensured homogeneous pumping and high specific input energies without increasing the heat loading on the foil separating the laser chamber from the accelerator. The Monte Carlo method was used to calculate the specific energy delivered by the electron beam.