Investigation of the emission characteristics of an XeCl laser excited by microsecond electron-beam pulses

Investigations were made of the pump power density and of the emission characteristics of an XeCl laser having an active volume of up to 30 liters. Attention was paid to the inhomogeneity of the excitation of the active region. For electron beam current densities in the range 5–15 A/cm², the halogen content of the mixture was a function of the pump power density. The gain ( 3 m^–1 ) and the unsaturated absorption ( 0.3 m^–1) were determined. The specific laser output energy was 4 J/liter and the efficiency was ~2%.