Photodissociative generation of population inversion in alkali noble gas excimer systems

Alkali noble gas excimer molecules are produced by photodissociation of alkali halogen vapor in a high-pressure noble gas atmosphere. Experimental details for NaI-Xe and CsI-Xe systems excited by 193 nm ArF or 249 nm KrF laser radiation are given, and the possibility of realizing an optically pumped alkali noble gas excimer laser is discussed.