Comprehensive kinetic model for electron-beam-excited XeCs+ ionic excimers

A theoretical model that accounts for fundamental plasma processes leading to the formation and decay of XeCs⁺ ionic excimers in high-pressure electron-beam-excited Ar/Xe/Cs mixtures was developed. Numerical calculations based on the model were performed. For atmospheric gas mixtures, the model predicts an intrinsic efficiency (energy stored in upper state/energy deposited) of 18%. Model calculations also indicate that while XeCs⁺ was predominantly formed via the rare-gas ion (Xe⁺) channel over the entire e-beam duration, the rare-gas metastable (Xe*) channel assumes dominance in the afterglow period.     

The homogeneity of a stabilized discharge-pumped XeCl* laser

* laser arrangement. The special pumping technique of this laser discharge is based on the additional use of a stabilizing low-current preliminary discharge. The model takes into account the time-dependent electron Boltzmann equation including electron–electron interaction for the determination of the electron kinetics, an extensive reaction kinetics involving various heavy particles and photons, and the relevant electrical circuit equations. The study has shown that density perturbations of preionization electrons lead to the inhomogeneity of the discharge plasma and the laser output. Furthermore, the impact of the spatial distribution of preionization electrons, of the HCl portion of the gas mixture, and of a low-current preliminary discharge for the discharge operation is discussed. Received: 10 September 1996/Revised version: 21 July 1997     

Spectroscopic investigation of the ionization kinetics in XeCl laser discharges by Xe* density measurements

Time and spatially resolved absorption measurements of Xe^* particle number densities performed at an X-ray preionized self-sustained XeCl^*-laser discharge were used to investigate the reaction kinetics of such discharges and to test the validity of the commonly-made assumption that they are fit well by spatially homogeneous numerical models. It turned out that the Xe^* density distribution over the discharge cross section remains homogeneous for less than 100 ns only. Comparing the experimental results of the homogeneous discharge phase with zero-dimensional model calculations, we conclude that induced emission modeled using two excited xenon levels must be taken into account for the quantitative interpretation of the absorption measurements. For the interpretation of the Xe 6s-6p absorption measurements even a multilevel model will be necessary. Further we conclude from the relative courses and the absolute values of the Xe^* particle number densities that realistic HCl kinetics should contain three vibrationally excited levels and stepwise excitation processes as proposed by Dem'yanov et al. [8].     

Axial non-uniformity of longitudinal hollow-cathode discharges for laser applications: numerical modeling and comparison with experiments

It is demonstrated by means of numerical modeling that longitudinal hollow-cathode discharges (HCDs) typically used for laser applications are strongly non-uniform in the axial direction. Two kinds of HCDs are investigated; those having one anode ring and those having two anode rings at opposite ends of the HCD tube. The HCD under study was made of copper and operated in a mixture of helium and argon. The calculated potential varied considerably in the axial direction. The densities of the major plasma species showed no maxima in the middle of the HCD, but rather at the anode side(s). The same applied to the sputtering rate at the cathode and the electron-impact ionization and excitation rates in the plasma. The calculation results for both configurations have been compared with measured data, i.e. with the electric current and the optical emission intensities of He (I) and Cu (I) lines as a function of axial position, and reasonable agreement has been reached. Received: 25 June 2002 / Revised version: 29 August 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +32-3/820-23-76, E-mail: annemie.bogaerts@ua.ac.be     

Experimental verification of a zero-dimensional model of the kinetics of XeCl* discharges by XeCl*(B)-, XeCl*(C)-, and Xe2Cl*-density measurements

Absolutely calibrated emission spectroscopy has been used to determine the particle number densities of XeCl^*(B), XeCl^*(C), and Xe₂Cl^* in a small scale Ne/Xe/HCl discharge with well-defined current and voltage pulses for a wide range of parameters. The measured particle number densities could be reproduced quite well by numerical model calculations using the rate-coefficient values of Quiñones et al. [1] for the quenching of XeCl^*(B,C) by Ne, Xe, and 2Xe, but 3.0 × 10^–31 cm⁶/s for the formation of Xe₂Cl^* by (Ne + Xe)-quenching. For the electron quenching, we recommend a rate coefficient value of 3.2 × 10^–8 cm³/s. From the equilibrium ratio of the particle number densities of XeCl^*(C) and XeCl^*(B), the energy separation between these states has been estimated to be 72 ± 33 cm^–1 with the B state placed above the C state.     

Effect of helium/argon gas ratio in a He-Ar-Cu<Superscript>+</Superscript> IR hollow-cathode discharge laser: modeling study and comparison with experiments

The He-Ar-Cu⁺ IR laser operates in a hollow-cathode discharge, typically in a mixture of helium with a few-% Ar. The population inversion of the Cu⁺ ion levels, responsible for laser action, is attributed to asymmetric charge transfer between He⁺ ions and sputtered Cu atoms. The Ar gas is added to promote sputtering of the Cu cathode. In this paper, a hybrid modeling network consisting of several different models for the various plasma species present in a He-Ar-Cu hollow-cathode discharge is applied to investigate the effect of Ar concentration in the gas mixture on the discharge behavior, and to find the optimum He/Ar gas ratio for laser operation. It is found that the densities of electrons, Ar⁺ ions, Ar_m ^* metastable atoms, sputtered Cu atoms and Cu⁺ ions increase upon the addition of more Ar gas, whereas the densities of He⁺ ions, He₂ ⁺ ions and He_m ^* metastable atoms drop considerably. The product of the calculated Cu atom and He⁺ ion densities, which determines the production rate of the upper laser levels, and hence probably also the laser output power, is found to reach a maximum around 1–5 % Ar addition. This calculation result is compared to experimental measurements, and reasonable agreement has been reached. Received: 14 October 2002 / Revised version: 28 November 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +32-3/820-23-76, E-mail: annemie.bogaerts@ua.ac.be     

Efficient cw sodium dimer Raman laser operation in a high-temperature sapphire cell

cw Raman lasing of Na₂ molecules generated in a heated, sealed-off, all-sapphire cell is demonstrated. Being not damaged by highly corrosive alkaline vapours, this type of cell enables operation without buffer gas in contrast to the normal heatpipe operation of these lasers. This allows us to study Raman lasers in alkaline vapours in new regimes and under ideal conditions. With an argon ion pump laser at 488 nm, Raman laser operation at 525 nm with more than 10% efficiency and thresholds below 0.2 mW for a cell without buffer gas (length 9 cm) have been obtained so far. The low thresholds, being a factor of 10 less than for comparable heatpipe operation, gives us the chance to use low-power diode lasers as pump sources and to realize compact reliable Raman laser systems. Received: 17 May 1999 / Published online: 25 August 1999     

Direct generation of sub-nanosecond pulses in a high-pressure miniature excimer laser

Direct generation of subnanosecond pulses in a 9.0 cm discharge-length high-pressure XeCl laser is reported. The shortest pulse obtained was 670 ps (FWHM) with an energy of 1.2 mJ corresponding to 1.8 MW peak power.     

Theoretical modeling of microwave-pumped high-pressure gas lasers

The electron avalanche and laser excitation processes in high-pressure discharges at microwave frequencies are investigated. In our model, the applied electromagnetic field is treated classically and assumed to be monochromatic. The Boltzmann equation for the electron velocity distribution function under the influence of an alternating electric field is numerically solved for a typical XeCl laser gas mixture. All relevant elastic, inelastic and electron-electron collisions are included in solving the Boltzmann equation. The theoretical modeling of microwwave-pumped high-pressure gas lasers are developed based on the first law of thermodynamics in order to determineE _rms/n (root-mean-square field strength/total number density of gas molecules) which is required by the Boltzmann equation to calculate the electron kinetics rates and microwave-power absorption by the plasma. A sample calculation of the microwave-pumped XeCl laser is presented, and a fair agreement between theory and experiment is seen.Paper partially presented at the 10th Int. Conf. on Lasers and Applications, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA (1987)     

Small volume coaxial discharge as precision testbed for 0D-models of XeCl lasers

In order to check the predictions of 0D-models experimentally, a small coaxial discharge configuration for the generation of homogeneous high pressure glow discharges (diameter 11 mm, length 20 mm) in rare gas halogen excimer laser gas mixtures under accurately controlled conditions has been developed. It uses X-ray preionization and a special pulse-forming network (PFN) delivering fast rising (8 ns) single square pulses (U ₀=25 kV; I=300 A; =100 ns). Discharge current and voltage are measured precisely by a capacitive voltage divider and a shunt integrated into the discharge chamber. All circuit data needed for the model calculations have been evaluated. Interferometric and spectroscopic diagnostics of the bulk of the discharge and of the cathode sheath have been performed. First results for Ne/Xe/HCl mixtures are compared with model calculations.     

Laser dye stability,part 12. The pyridinium salts

Improved laser output is demonstrated in KrF and XeCl lasers with x-ray preionization. The influence of gas composition, preionization geometry, x-ray dose,E/p value and temporal delay between x-ray pulse and laser discharge is discussed. In XeCl lasing has been achieved with an x-ray dose of 0.2 mR whereas approx. 3 mR are required for KrF. For both systems, the highest output energy and the lowest possibleE/p ratio were observed with Ne buffered gas mixtures. Dissociative attachment to halogen molecules on a ns time scale supported by a relatively slow laser voltage rise is recognized as the main electron loss channel preventing a long lifetime of the preionization electrons. High preionization intensity is thus desirable at the moment of voltage breakdown.     

Experimental verification of a zero-dimensional model of the ionization kinetics of XeCl discharges

An improved 0-dimensional model for XeCl high-pressure glow discharges is presented. Calculated discharge voltages are compared with precise measurements at a small, very homogeneous discharge. Excellent agreement in a wide parameter field demonstrates that this model may serve as a reference for simpler models describing the ionization kinetics.     

Peculiarities of KrF excimer vibrational relaxation in low-pressure Kr/F2 mixtures excited by a short pulse

The importance of excimer vibrational relaxation is manifested once again by the example of the low-pressure Kr/F₂ gain medium excited by a short pulse. The pressure is determined at which a sharp fall of the population efficiency of low KrF(B) vibrational levels should appear. Time peculiarities of the gain are investigated analytically for short-pulse excitation operation.     

Experimental verification of a zero-dimensional model of the kinetics of XeCl* discharges by Xe*-, Cl*-, Ne*-, and H*-density measurements

Absorption spectroscopic measurements of effective particle number densities of excited Xe, Ne, Cl, and H performed on a small scale discharge with well-defined current and voltage pulses are compared with the results of model calculations over a wide range of discharge parameters. The reaction kinetic pathways determining the ionization and dissociative attachment rates have been verified by the good agreement obtained during the quasi-steady-state phase of the discharge for Xe and H. To reproduce the rise times of the excited Xe particle number densities during the ignition phase, the electron collision excitation cross sections of ground state Xe published by Puech and Mizzi [1] had to be enhanced by about 25%. From the Ne measurements it is concluded that the electron collision excitation cross sections of ground state Ne published by Puech and Mizzi [1] may be too large near the threshold. Measurements of excited Cl particle number densities are unsuitable to check the attachment kinetics of HCl, because these densities are mainly determined by reactions not involving the formation of Cl^– ions.     

Flashlamp-pumped Nd:KGW laser in MOPA configuration: comparative study of several rods

The laser performance of the Nd:KGW crystal has been studied in a master oscillator and power amplifier configuration (MOPA). Several crystals from two different producers were investigated for the oscillator and the amplifier. A maximum single-pass gain of 25 was observed in free-running and Q-switched mode. We obtained a maximum output amplified energy of 400 mJ at 30 Hz (with a pulse duration of 10 to 30 ns) with a divergence less than 3 mrad. We also studied the limitations of this configuration due to the very high gain of the Nd:KGW crystal. Received: 21 September 1998 / Revised version: 10 January 1999 / Published online: 19 May 1999     

Determination of an optimal five-gas combination in a sealed-off CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> laser

For obtaining the maximal output power, five lasing gas mixtures (CO₂, N₂, He, Xe and H₂) in a sealed-off CO₂ laser are optimized by applying a genetic algorithm and solving CO₂ laser kinetics equations. A comparison of numerical simulations shows that the optimal pressures of CO₂ and N₂ are 1.15 Torr and 7.32 Torr, respectively. Accordingly, the maximum laser power of 124 W is obtained by utilizing the optimal gas combination and an optimized resonator with a length of 1.2 m. Received: 14 August 2002 / Published online: 22 January 2003 The project supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 602098). RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +86-571/8832-0369, E-mail: chengch@mail.hz.zj.cn     

Comparative laser study of Nd:KGW and Nd:YAG near 1.3 μm

A comparative study of Nd:KGW and Nd:YAG laser crystals pumped by flashlamp has been conducted near 1.3 μm with output energy up to 1 J and at a repetition rate up to 50 Hz. An average power of 23 W for KGW in free-running mode was achieved with a total efficiency better than 2.8 % for the Nd:KGW and 1.8 % for the Nd:YAG. Received: 9 December 1996 / Revised version: 10 February 1997     

Numerical analysis of the electrical and optical behaviour of a pulsed nitrogen laser through time-dependent resistances and inductances

Received: 28 September 1996     

Fluorescence measurements in a Low-pressure Kr/F2 medium

The time-resolved measurement of the sidelight fluorescence of KrF* formed by a short electron-beam pumping pulse (20 ns FWHM, 19 kA, 860 kV) was performed as a function of both the total pressure ranging from 100 Torr to 400 Torr and the partial F₂ concentration (0.1–1.0%). We have estimated the fluorescence yields (FY) for various laser-gas conditions experimentally and the results were compared with numerical predictions. This study indicates a superior amplification performance for a single ultrashort pulse in a low-pressure medium because of the higher FY for KrF*.