Low-power photolytically pumped lasers: Final technical report

We have carried out an extensive series of measurements of the time-resolved Xe2* emission spectra following optical pumping by a short-pulse F2 laser at 157.6 nm. Most measurements were performed using a gated Optical Multichannel Analyzer detector; we also made measurements using a scanning monochromator fitted with a photomultiplier and using a boxcar integrator for time resolution. The two sets of results agree well and show that both the singlet and triplet emission bands are broader than expected and have center wavelengths closer together than expected. Measurements were performed both at room temperature and at elevated (1400C) and reduced (-270C) temperatures. The broad bandwidth of the individual spectral bands was unexpected and conflicted with a previous spectral measurement using optical pumping by the Xe* resonance line from a microwave discharge lamp. Therefore, we also performed a series of spectral measurements using this type of optical pumping. We achieved good agreement with some previous results in the literature, but not with the result in question. We conclude that the present results are reliable. The results presented in this report provide the first definitive measurement of the individual excimer emissions from each of the Xe2(0/sub u/+) and Xe2(1/sub u/) states. From these measurements and the known ground state potential, we derived a 1/sub u/ potential that reproduces the emission band very well. However, the 1/sub u/ potential is in substantial disagreement with the recent 1/sub u/ potential derived by the Toronto group. 13 refs., 32 figs., 3 tabs