Theoretical and experimental study of KrF fluorescence in a multimicrosecond longitudinal discharge

Multimicrosecond KrF (B to X) fluorescence characteristics were measured using KrF laser mixtures pumped by a low-pressure longitudinal stable discharge to make clear the mechanism of the premature termination of the KrF laser. Using the experimental setup with a seven-stage pulse-forming network (PFN), a KrF fluorescence pulse with a pulse duration of 2.0 mu s was obtained at a total pressure of 75 torr, whose gas mixture was F/sub 2//Kr/He=0.1/7.5/92.4(%). The pulse width (FWHM) of KrF fluorescence was decreased from 1400 ns to 500 ns with increasing F/sub 2/ concentration from 0.1 to 1.5%. The theoretical analysis made it clear that this termination mechanism was strongly due to the KrF fluorescence kinetics.>