Performance improvement of a discharge-pumped ArF excimer laser by xenon gas addition

The effect of xenon (Xe) gas addition to a discharge-pumped ArF excimer las er was examined, When the partial pressure of the Xe gas was changed over a wide range, the output energy of the ArF excimer laser was found to become maximum at the Xe partial pressure of 20 mTorr and to be about three times higher than that without Xe addition. It was shown that Xe gas addition wa s effective in increasing the initial electron density which was produced i n the preionization process, and that the increase of the initial electron density then produced a tendency to make the main discharge in the laser un iform in the direction of the optical axis.