Abstract
We investigated theoretically the efficiency enhancement of discharge‐pumped vacuum‐ultraviolet F2 lasers using He/F2 mixtures in terms of the laser kinetics. As a result, the high mixture pressure is found to be essential for the high‐efficiency operation. Intrinsic efficiency in excess of 1% may be obtainable. Using a 6‐atm mixture of He/F2=98.5/0.15%, intrinsic efficiency of 1.5% may be obtainable with a specific output energy of 2.6 J/l.