Excimer Laser Pumped by an Intense, High-Energy Heavy-Ion Beam

High-energy heavy ions are an ideal tool to generate homogeneously excited, extended volumes of nonthermal plasmas. Here, the high-energy loss ($dE/dx$) and absolute power deposition of heavy ions interacting with matter has been used to pump an ultraviolet laser. A pulsed 70 MeV/u ²³⁸U beam with up to 2.5×10⁹ particles in ~100 ns beam bunches was stopped in a 1.2 m long laser cell filled with a 1.6 bar Ar-Kr-F₂ mixture (typically 50%:49.9%:0.1%). Laser effect on the 248 nm KrF* excimer transition is clearly demonstrated.