XeF laser performance for F2and NF3fuels

XeF laser performance has been investigated for F
2
versus NF
3
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/cm
³
on a 1 m
e
-beam pumped laser. The F
2
-based laser mixture has been shown to be recyclable, with no loss in laser output, while laser performance steadily degrades for NF
2
-fueled mixtures under repetitively pulsed conditions. Despite the fact that F
3
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 F
2
and NF
3
fuels for deposited energy loadings up to at least 150 j/l. 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.