Abstract: | Experimental investigations have been performed for aXeCl laser with the active region aperture equal to 6.5×7 and 15×15 cm. To pump the laser, two types of generator were used: a generator connected in a double-loop circuit with a peaking capacitor and a multichannel spark gap switch and a magnetic thyratron generator. The working mixtureNe−Xe−HCl was preionized with soft x rays and a low-current electron beam, providing an initial electron density ranging from 106 to 5·1013 cm−3. Conditions in which a homogeneous space discharge is initiated have been studied. It has been investigated how the degree of ionization of the gas and the aperture of the active region affect the discharge and lasing characteristics of the laser. The laser efficiency reaches 4% with an energy of ≈ 6 J extracted from one liter of the active region. Institute of High-Current Electronics, Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 54–59, April, 2000. |