XeF laser performance for F2 and NF3 fuels

XeF laser performance has been investigated for F2 versus NH3 as the halogen donor (fuel). The experiments were all performed in 3 AMAGAT Ne/Xe/fuel mixtures at ambient temperature and a pump rate of 132 KW/cu cm on a 1 m e-beam pumped laser. The F2-based laser mixture has been shown to be recyclable, with no loss in laser output, while laser performance steadily degrades for NF2-fueled mixtures under repetitively pulsed conditions. Despite the fact that F3 absorbs at the XeF wavelength, it has been demonstrated that under appropriately chosen conditions the XeF intrinsic efficiency is essentially the same (2.2 percent) for both F2 and NF3 fuels for deposited energy loadings up to at least 150 j/1. Absorption, gain, fuel burn-up, and fluorescence were also measured in order to better characterize the laser medium and to determine the major factors contributing to the efficiency.