Stimulated VUV emission in high-pressure xenon excited by high-current relativistic electron beams

Abstract
Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission characteristics of xenon for pressures from 15 to 450 psi are presented. Stimulated emission was observed above 200 psi. Experiments were run both with and without mirrors. Without mirrors, the emission was 150 Å wide centered at 1700 Å, and the mean radiative lifetime was 2×10−8. The energy conversion efficiency was ∼ 20%. With mirrors above 200 psi the emission width narrowed to 17 Å centered at 1716 Å, and the output was highly directional. The pulse width narrowed from 50 to ∼ 3 nsec.