Double-Pulse Operation in XeCl Excimer Laser for Simulation of High-Repetition-Rate Performance

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Abstract
In order to simulate laser performance at high-repetition rates, sequential discharge pulses (double pulse) were generated in a XeCl laser gas mixture. Various aspects of the discharges and the laser power of the second pulse were observed, while varying the pulse interval from 1 s to 1 ms. With shortening of the interval, some white streamers first appeared in the glow discharge which finally changed into a high-intensity red arc. In the discharge transition from glow to arc, the laser pulse width was reduced first, followed by peak intensity decrease. The arc-onset pulse interval, T th, was investigated at gas flow rates from 0 m/s to 6.2 m/s. The values of 1/T th almost coincide with the laser repetition rate at which the average power begins to diminish under continuous operation. Double-pulse operation is an effective means to estimate the upper limits of the laser repetition rate.

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