High-power efficient vacuum ultraviolet F2 laser excited by an electric discharge

An electric-discharge F₂ laser emitting at 157.6 nm was constructed. A study was made of its spectral, energy, and temporal characteristics. High values of the output power W and efficiency of an F₂ laser were obtained by increasing the pressure in the He–F₂ active medium to 10 atm, which made it possible to achieve W=3 MW, efficiency of 0.17%, and specific output energy in excess of 1J/liter. Each of the two components of the output spectrum was ~0.02 nm wide.