Discharge stability of electrically excited rare-gas halide laser systems

An explanation of the cause of discharge constriction in an electrically excited XeClsup(*) laser system is presented. Our analysis, carried out for a specific system, is more generally applicable to other rare-gas halide lasers and represents a contribution to the theory of discharge stability in high-pressure, strongly electron-attaching gas mixture. The conclusions obtained in various theories of the growth of instabilities in high-pressure laser discharges, thus far appeared in the literature, are briefly resumed and compared with our experimental and theoretical findings. Finally, prospects for obtaining a better discharge stability in rare-gas halide systems are discussed