Open problems in the XeCl laser physics

The effects of different assumptions related to plasma kinetics and plasma-circuit interaction on the results of a self-consistent code for modeling an XeCl* self-sustained discharge-pumped laser have been examined. In particular, a discussion is presented of the opportunity of coupling chemical and electron kinetics, the role of inductive effects in plasma-circuit interaction, the NeXe/sup +/ kinetics in Ne-buffered XeCl* lasers, the XeCl* stimulated emission cross section, and the HCl vibrational kinetics. Finally, electron energy distribution functions for a Ne/Xe/HCl laser mixture, obtained by solving the two-term Boltzmann equation and using a Monte Carlo code, have been compared.<
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