High pulse repetition frequency, rare gas halide lasers are potentially useful in laser photochemical processes such as laser isotope separation. For practical use in many of these applications, high pulse repetition frequency operation must be achieved with good optical beam quality. Ideally, such a laser should achieve good medium optical quality with a minimum gas recirculation power. Component reliability in the laser cavity, flow loop and electrical circuitry is also needed for long laser lifetime. A closed loop XeCl laser, named Mistral, has been constructed at Mathematical Sciences Northwest, Inc., (MSNW), to investigate acoustic damping and flow control techniques needed to achieve good optical quality in these lasers. The device uses a 20 cm long UV preionized laser cavity to produce power levels of order 100 W. The flow loop has been designed to minimize flow disturbances and to allow examination of the performance of various acoustic dampers located in the side-walls of the flow channel upstream and downstream of the discharge region. A burst of laser pulses at 1 to 2 kilohertz PRF is provided by a main discharge triggered spark gap switched PFN coupled to 8 ft.-long cable peaking capacitors. The test time is limited by the gas capacity of the triggered spark gap gas supply to about 2 minutes. The loop is constructed primarily of nickel plated stainless steel, and includes a centrifugal blower and heat exchanger. A description of the design, fabrication and operation of this facility is given together with the results of current experimental investigations.

Date Published: 9 November 1981
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 0279, Ultraviolet and Vacuum Ultraviolet Systems, (9 November 1981); doi: 10.1117/12.965703

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0279:
Ultraviolet and Vacuum Ultraviolet Systems
William R. Hunter, Editor(s)