Short-pulse excitation of a xenon molecular dissociation laser at 172.9 nm by relativistic electrons

Laser action at 172.9 nm has been observed in xenon and krypton-xenon mixtures following short-pulse excitation (2.5 nsec) by a relativistic electron beam. Peak powers [inverted lazy s] 80 kW cm−2 in a 5-nsec pulse were obtained. The pumping sheme used in this work is noteworthy because its high eff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 1973-12, Vol.23 (12), p.672-674
Main Authors: Wallace, Stephen C., Hodgson, R. T., Dreyfus, R. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Laser action at 172.9 nm has been observed in xenon and krypton-xenon mixtures following short-pulse excitation (2.5 nsec) by a relativistic electron beam. Peak powers [inverted lazy s] 80 kW cm−2 in a 5-nsec pulse were obtained. The pumping sheme used in this work is noteworthy because its high efficiency has made it possible to utilize a simple compact electron accelerator (total electron beam energy 6 J) for excitation. The present short-pulse data suggest that the rapid decrease in energy efficiency of this laser at high xenon pressures may be due to excited-state quenching by ground-state xenon atoms.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.1654786