Abstract
A high repetition-rate excimer laser has been developed, in which a 4-stage axial blower circulates the laser gas up to 120 m/s. The discharge region of 10 × 20 × 610 mm3 is UV-preio-nized by pin sparks located along both sides of main electrodes. The output characteristics of XeCl laser were optimized for high repetition rate operations, varying conditions such as total gas pressure, gas mixture ratio, and applied voltage. High Xe contents were found to deterio-rate the laser stability. The residual Xe2+ and Cl ions localized on the cathode surface are sup-posed to generate filamentary channels, which cause laser energy reduction. Stable 4 kHz op-eration was achieved at a clearance ratio CR =3 with 200 W average laser power in a gas mix-ture of Xe/HCl/He=1.06/0.27/177 kPa.
