Electron kinetics in the KrF laser

Abstract

At fractional electron densities typical of e-beam-stabilized KrF laser discharges, electron-electron collisions are shown to play a significant role in determining the metastable production rates and electron transport properties. The major effect is to reduce the E/N for optimum laser pumping, which is consistent with experimental observation. The laser quantum efficiency under discharge pumping is shown to be about 36% compared to direct e-beam pumping at 26%.