Formation of negative ions in gaseous mixtures used as the active media in XeCI lasers

An investigation was made of the formation of negative ions in HCl(BCl₃)–Xe–He gaseous mixtures used as the active media in XeCl lasers. The rate constants of the formation of negative ions in mixtures with boron chloride were 2.5 times higher than the rate constants for mixtures with hydrogen chloride, amounting to (5.8–2.0)×10^-10 cm³ s^-1 when the parameter E/N was varied from 2×10^-17 to 4×10^-16 V cm². A hypothesis was put forward that there are additional processes of negative ion formation in mixtures with BCl₃.