Excitation of a rare-gas halide laser by electron beam pulses of microsecond duration

An excimer laser excited by electron beam pulses of microsecond duration and having an active volume of up to 30 liters was constructed. A detailed description is given of the operating characteristics of the electron accelerator. It is shown that for electron current densities of 10 A/cm² and above one must take into account the focusing of the beam by its own magnetic field. An accelerator efficiency of 65% was achieved and an energy of 6 kJ was delivered to the laser chamber. Using XeCl, a laser output energy of 50 J was obtained with a specific output energy of 4 J/liter and an efficiency of ~2%.