NEW BLUE-GREEN EXCIMER LASER IN XEF

A new blue-green excimer laser has been demonstrated on the C-A transition in XeF, with an output energy of greater than 1 mJ. Xe* 2 excimer fluorescence at 172 nm was used to photodissociate XeF 2, producing XeF[B (1/2)] and XeF[C (3/2)]. The B (1/2) state was collisionally relaxed to the C (3/2) state with an Ar buffer. Lasing then occurs sequentially on the B (1/2) -X (1/2) and C (3/2) -A (3/2) transitions. Measurements of the C-A laser spectrum showed a peak wavelength of 483 nm with a bandwidth of 12 nm. This new laser is potentially highly efficient and scalable and should be tunable over a bandwidth greater than 40 nm.