High repetition long pulse XeCl laser with a coaxial ceramic pulse-forming line

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Abstract
A coaxial pulse-forming line using ceramic as a dielectric material has been developed for excitation of a long pulse XeCl laser. The dielectric constant of 1700 enabled a compact low-impedance pulse-forming line (PFL) with an electric transit time of 260 ns/m. A 200-ns optical pulse has been produced with an output energy of 240 mJ from a 2×2×28-cm3 active region. The use of a magnetic switch rather than a nontriggered rail gap improved dramatically the high repetition rate capability, jitter, and reproducibility of the optical pulse shape, which are essential for practical use. The jitter was within 2 ns and the fluctuation in the output energy was ±3%.