Modeling of the active medium of an argon hydride exciplex laser

A model is constructed for the plasma-chemical reactions in an Ar–H₂ mixture and numerical calculations are presented for the active medium of an excipiex laser utilizing this mixture under small-signal amplification and lasing conditions. It is found that a laser with an efficiency of ~7% may be developed with an argon density of ~10²⁰ cm^–3 and a hydrogen density of ~10¹⁸ cm^–3 pumped by an electron beam with a current density of ~250 A/cm² or a proton beam with a current density of ~2A/cm² and a particle energy of ~300keV. The characteristics of the active medium may be improved by heating the mixture to ~150°C. A helium buffer does not produce any improvement.