The fundamental transmission characteristics of KrF laser radiation (248 nm) through the step-index-type fused quartz fiber have been determined. For the step-index-type fused quartz fiber used the transmission loss is about 0.5 dB/m at power densities up to 3.9 MW/cm2 and 2 dB/m at 100 MW/cm2. One of the applications of this intense UV KrF laser transmission via optical fibers is the development of a gas insulated spark-gap switch trigger by a KrF laser through a 2-m-long optical fiber. As a result, at a voltage 90% of the self-breakdown voltage and at an illumination power density of 1.2 MW/cm2, a full trigger jitter of less than 5 ns is realized and it corresponds to a 1-σ jitter of less than 1 ns. The illumination energy is as low as 10 μJ/shot.
Our investigation has revealed that the preionization electron density and the spatial distribution of the preionization electrons could play an important role for the scaling of discharge pumped lasers. The KrF laser energy, pulse width, and laser output burn pattern were strongly dependent on the preionization electron density. The spatial uniformity of the preionization in parallel to the electric field affected the discharge uniformity. A more efficient power deposition was obtained in the stronger preionized region of the laser gas mixture.
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