Xe laser pumped by fast electrons generated in a barrier discharge

A compact pulsed generator of a kiloelectronvolt electron beam based on an open barrier discharge in a dense gas is proposed and developed. A stable discharge was observed in the experimental setup in a broad range of pressures up to the atmospheric pressure. At moderate pressures of the gas (~ 5 — 20 Torr), the efficient generation of an electron beam was observed with a current density of ~ 1 A cm-2 and the discharge area of ~ 100 cm2. The electron energy was ~ 2 — 10 keV. The pulse repetition rate could be varied from 10 Hz to 10 kHz without changing the electron-beam parameters. By injecting an electron beam into a neutral gas, lasing was obtained at the transitions of a Xe atom in the 2-μm region with an output power of ~ 0.22 mW kHz-1.