Short pulse generation and compression in XeCl lasers

Techniques of short pulse generation in discharge-pumped excimer lasers are experimentally and analytically investigated around the 1 ns region. With a compact Blumlein-type XeCl laser and an 8 cm cavity length, a lasing pulse duration of 1 ns FWHM was obtained. The pulse duration is remarkably shortened in comparison with the pumping period through the mechanism of controlled resonator transients. Next, pulse compression by an absorber-amplifier system is demonstrated in XeCl lasers. Incident pulses are compressed by a factor of 2/3 by passing through a saturable absorber butyl PBD, and a XeCl amplifier.