Peculiarities of active medium formation in a short-pulse electric-discharge XeCl laser

The effect of the conditions of discharge on the output radiation parameters and efficiency of an electric-discharge XeCl laser pumped by 20 ns pulses is studied experimentally. It is shown that the highest specific energy extraction ~3.9 J L^-1 atm^-1 from the active medium is realised in a discharge formed by pronounced macroinhomogeneities. The maximum laser efficiency of 2.7% is attained for discharge current densities of 1.2–1.4 kA cm^-2.