Abstract

The principal kinetic processes necessary for formation of the upper laser level (8 electronic state) of the XeCl* excimer have been qualitatively identified, and it is generally accepted that the main pumping channels are the so-called harpooning reaction or ion-ion recombination. The components required for the above channels are either produced directly, as a result of electron collisions, or by some other form of energy transfer mechanism between a buffer gas and the constituent atomic species. These mechanisms predominantly produce the XelI* excimer in high vibrational levels of the B electronic state which subsequently relax to the level the vibrational level normally accessed by the optical field. Recent experimental observations^1,2 have indicated that such relaxation processes are not sufficiently rapid to allow the B-state vibrational population to relax to a Boltzmann distribution corresponding to the ambient gas temperature. Consequently a significant fraction of the B-state population will lie in vibrational levels which do not contribute to the lasing process.

© 1983 Optical Society of America