Dependences of the plasma parameters and output energy of excimer lasers on the Xe content in an He–Xe–HCl mixture

An investigation was made of the dependences of the plasma parameters and output energy of an electric–discharge XeCl* laser on the Xe content and the total pressure of an He–Xe–HCl mixture. It was found that the experimentally observed weak dependence of the laser output energy on the percentage content of Xe (in the range 1–10%) is associated with a sharp reduction in the rate constants for excitation of the metastable and p states of the active rare gas due to a change in the tail of the distribution function when the Xe concentration is increased.