Electron-beam XeCl laser with a specific output energy of 20 J/liter

An investigation was made of an XeCl laser pumped by an electron beam which provided specific excitation power densities up to 20 MW/cm³ and specific input energies up to 1.5 J/cm³. The composition of the working gas mixtures containing argon and krypton as buffer gases was optimized. Empirical relationships were derived between the optimal HCl and CCl₄ pressures and the specific input energy. An active volume of 120 cm³ provided a laser output energy of 2.4 J and the efficiency of the lasing process was 2% when the pulse duration was ~80 nsec. Heating of the gas mixture during an excitation pulse, which increased the temperature by Δ T≤800 K, did not affect significantly the lasing efficiency.