High-energy IR lasers operating on XeI transitions

An experimental investigation was made of the parameters of lasing as a result of atomic transitions in xenon observed when Ar-Xe and He-Ar-Xe mixtures were excited by an electron beam in a laser chamber with an active volume of approximately 600 liters. Electron beam from six double acceleration diodes were injected axially symmetric into this chamber. This ensured a more efficient utilization of the pump energy and a uniform distribution of the laser radiation energy over a transverse exit aperture in the maximum specific input energies. An output radiation energy of the order of 100 J was generated with an efficiency of about 2% at lambda equals 1.73 micrometer and of the order of 50 J with an efficiency of about 1% at lambda equals 2.03 micrometer. An analysis was made of the experimental results and of criteria for the optimization of the pump parameters in order to improve the output characteristics of a wide-aperture laser operating on the basis of atomic transitions in xenon.