Performance characteristics of the ArF excimer laser using a low-pressure argon-rich mixture

Low-pressure operation of an electron-beam excited ArF laser was experimentally compared to KrF lasers, both of which were pumped at high excitation rate by a 65 ns electron beam. We obtained the ArF laser energy of 95 J with an intrinsic efficiency of 3.4% from a 650 Torr Ar/F2 mixture pumped at an excitation rate of 2.3 MW/cm3. In the low-pressure region (near one atmosphere) the Ar/F2 mixture gave higher efficiency than that of Ne-buffered mixtures, and moreover gave higher efficiency than those of the KrF lasers operating with various mixtures under the same excitation rate. As a result, the ArF laser operating in this regime is found to be a better candidate than the KrF laser as an inertial confinement fusion driver.