Tunable blue-green triatomic excimer lasers

The technical issues pertinent to the characterization of electrically pumped, triatomic laser media, including fluorescence measurements, laser mixture optimization and gain absorption effects, are discussed. Detailed fluorescence, gain and laser measurements of high-pressure Ar/Xe/CCl4 and Ar/Kr/NF3 mixtures are reported for the cases of Xe2Cl transitions centered at 520 nm, and Kr2F transitions centered at 436 nm, respectively. Laser spectra with significant narrowing from 80-20 nm are described, and tuning over an interval of about 30 nm is discussed. The output power from both the Xe3Cl and Kr2F lasers is determined to be approximately 5 kw/sq cm, with pulse durations of about 50 ns.