Scaling and Design of Discharge-Excited Rare-Gas Halide Lasers.

Abstract : The results of this study establish the feasibility of developing efficient high-average-power discharge-pumped rare-gas halide (RGH) lasers. An analysis of the scaling and limitations of PFN (Pulse-forming network)-driven, electric discharge-pumped RGH lasers has been performed. The design of a 100 W XeC1 laser is described in detail. The relative merits of uv and X-ray preionization and their applicability to RGH lasers have been investigated, and the scaling limits of output pulse energy and pulse-repetition frequencies (PRF) have been explored. The design concepts presented permit pulse energy scaling to the kilojoule range, where limitations exist only because of increasing dielectric stress in the PFN. Gas dynamic flow considerations predict that kilojule lasers can be developed with PRFs in the kilohertz range. Practical limits appear to be reached at a pulse frequency of 3kHz (3 MW average power). (Author)