Control of the divergence and spectrum of an XeCl laser

A study was made of the divergence and spectral composition of the radiation from an electrical-discharge XeCl laser with nondispersive and dispersive resonators. It was found for the first time that the spectrum of the XeCl laser could be narrowed substantially by simply reducing the lasing level in the nondispersive resonator. Inhomogeneity of the discharge in a direction perpendicular to the current exerted an influence on the laser divergence. Lasing with a line width of 0.1 cm^–1 and a divergence close to the diffraction-limited value was achieved.