The influence of electrode materials and surface roughness on the discharge homogeneity of F2 based excimer
laser gas mixtures is investigated in a small x-ray preionised discharge chamber. The temporal and spatial
evolution of the discharge is monitored by taking photographs of the discharge luminosity with an ICCD camera.
It is found that for the same surface roughness, discharges with nickel coated aluminum electrodes are more
homogeneous than the discharges using chromium or gold coated aluminum, massive copper, aluminum, brass
and steel electrodes. Moreover, the surface roughness of copper electrodes does not have a large influence on the
homogeneity of discharges in F2 doped excimer laser gas discharges.
The influence of the buffer gases on the discharge homogeneity of F2doped excimer laser gas mixtures is investigated in a small x-ray preionised high-pressure discharge chamber. The spatial and temporal development of discharges in He/F2 and Ne/F2 gas mixtures is monitored via its fluorescence using an intensified CCD camera with a gating time of 300 ps. The formation and development of discharge filaments in He/F2 gas mixtures is completely different from that in Ne/F2. Under the same start up conditions, discharges in Ne/F2 are dominated by cathode hotspots where as no hot spots are visible in discharges in He/F2 gas mixtures. However, the discharges in Ne/F2 gas mixtures appear to be more uniform even though the discharge width decreases in time and hotspots are persistent on the cathode surface.
Discharge instabilities in F2 based excimer gas lasers are investigated using a small-scale discharge system. After preionizing the gas volume, a fast rising voltage pulse initiates the discharge. The temporal development of the discharge is monitored via its fluorescence by an intensified CCD camera with a gating time of 10 ns. Homogeneous discharges are produced in gas mixtures of He/1mbar F2 and He/1mbar F2/30mbar Xe at a total pressure of 2 bar for pump pulse duratins up to 70 ns (FWHM). The addition of Xe to He/F2 mixture does not lead to discharge instabilities while the introduction of more F2 results in hotspot and filament formation.
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