Rare Gas Monohalide Excimer Lasers

Very recently pulsed laser action in the ultraviolet from excimer states of several rare gas monohalides has been reported. Laser wavelengths from 1930 to 3530 A are observed from 1 /2 transitions connecting the lowest 

The first of these lasers was the XeBr laser reported by Searles and Hart, following earlier flow tube studies of Velazco and Setser and Golde and Thrush. Although these lasers require an electrical source for initial creation of the Po,2 rare gas metastables, laser pumping is dependent on chemical reactions of the type (3.8) hence these lasers might well be termed chemical lasers.  

Pulse energies exceeding 100 J for such lasers have been reported this value is over 10 times larger than pulse energies reported for previous lasers in this spectral region, such as the Ng laser. 

The new excimer lasers promise to be very convenient sources for laboratory experiments in photochemistry, isotope separation, and energy 

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