Investigation of an XeCl laser pumped by a discharge with ionization multiplication and initiated by a beam of fast electrons

An experimental investigation was made of the energy characteristics of an XeCl laser pumped with a discharge initiated by an electron beam. It was found that by using discharges with ionization multiplication at a gap voltage below the breakdown value the current density in the electron beam could be reduced to 1–2 A/cm² while maintaining an efficiency of 1–1.4% for converting the energy stored in a capacitor into the laser output energy.