Xenon and hydrogen gas mixtures as laser active media

It is suggested that gaseous mixtures of xenon and molecular hydrogen may be used as active media of Xe₂ (172 nm) and XeH ( ~ 250 nm) photochemical lasers. By adding more than 3 Torr of hydrogen to xenon, amplification can be achieved in the 172 nm range as a result of quenching of the 1_u / 0_u^– absorbing state under optical pumping conditions. The hydrogen atoms produced by the quenching process can be utilized to populate XeH* by three-body recombination with Xe* ( ³P_1,2) atoms.