Discharge stability in E-beam-sustained rare-gas halide lasers

Abstract

The stability of a glow discharge in rare-gas mixtures containing a small fraction of attaching species is examined, using the e-beam-sustained KrF laser discharge as a generic example. The stability limit is shown to lie near the peak of the voltage-current characteristic, while the mode of instability is dependent on external circuit parameters. The calculated maximum discharge voltage is in good agreement with experimental observation over a wide range of e-beam current densities.