High energy extraction of electron beam pumped KrF lasers at multi atmospheres

The construction is described of a simple and compact KrF laser with electron beam excitation. The electron beam is generated in a coaxial vacuum diode, driven directly by a ten-stage coaxial Marx generator. A flat MgF2 outcoupler and a suprasil roof prism, protected by an MgF2 window, proved to be resistant against optically and chemically induced damage. A gas mixture of 4.5 bar Ar, 150 mbar Kr and 10 mbar F2 gives an energy output of 0.46 J from a 16 cm3 volume in 40 ns pulses or 0.72 MW/cm3

An investigation of the role of Ne, Ar, and Kr as buffer gas in a coaxial e-beam pumped KrF laser

The role of Ne, Ar, and Kr as a buffer gas was investigated in a KrF laser pumped by a coaxiale-beam. The coaxial diode has a length of 20 cm and the anode tube diameter is 1 cm. The tube can be pressurized with the laser gas mixture up to 12 bar while a current density of 250 A/cm2can be achieved. It is found that both the maximum energy extraction and the optimized gas pressure with each buffer gas increase in the sequence Kr-Ar-Ne. From the experimental results, the quenching parameters of Kr, Ar, and Ne are deduced