Influence of molecular dissociation and degree of ionization on rare gas–halide laser properties

The influence of F2 dissociation and the accompanying increase in fractional ionization is examined for conditions typical of electron-beam-sustained KrF* lasers. It is found that for electron-density–F2-density ratios greater than about 10−3, rare-gas metastable loss due to electron excitation of higher levels begins to compete significantly with metastable-F2 reactions, thereby leading to a substantial reduction in rare gas–halide production efficiency.