Design and performance characteristics of a krypton chloride (λ = 222 nm) excimer laser

Abstract

Development of a discharge-pumped krypton chloride (KrCl) laser operating at 222 nm wavelength is demonstrated. In this paper the design, successful realization and operating characteristics of KrCl excimer laser are reported. The laser is driven by a simple and efficient excitation technique using automatic UV pre-ionization with discharge-pumped self-sustained capacitor–capacitor (C–C) energy transfer circuit. The experimental investigations including output laser energy, temporal pulse parameters, emission spectra and beam profile of the KrCl laser were recorded. For high repetition rate operation, in-built, compact gas circulation system using tangential blower was incorporated. The laser was operated at 25 kV discharge voltage, gas mixture of 5 mbar HCl, 160 mbar kypton and neon as balance with a total gas pressure of ∼2.5 bar. These experiments produced an efficient and reliable output energy of 25 mJ from an active volume of 60 cm³.