Electrode effects in a pulse-periodic excimer laser

An investigation was made of the influence of perturbations at the electrodes on the contraction (constriction) of a volume discharge in a pulse-periodic XeCl laser. Modeling experiments showed that the property of the cathode material which influenced the discharge contraction in the pulse-periodic regime was the heat of evaporation. The use of a tantalum electrode in a pulse-periodic XeCl laser made it possible to raise substantially the output parameters of the laser radiation at pulse repetition frequencies of 0.4–1 kHz.