GENERATION OF SHORT HIGH-POWER PULSES IN EXCIMER LASERS BY FAST PULSE Q-SWITCHING

The possibility of generation of short high-power pulses by pulse electrooptic Q-switching in a high-gain excimer system was investigated numerically. Two methods of short-pulse generation were considered. In the first the electrooptic Q-switch is controlled by two half-wave voltage gates. The method normally enables pulses from several hundreds of picoseconds to a few nanoseconds duration to be obtained. In the second method the Q-switch is controlled by a train of voltage gates of amplitude equal to the double half-wave voltage. In this case, even at short times of laser pumping almost-equal-to 50 ns), it is possible to generate high-power pulses of duration from tens to several hundreds of picoseconds. The influence of various system parameters on the generation process and the parameters of the generated pulses was analysed in detail.