Kinetic model for self-sustained discharge xecl lasers

A simulation code including the Boltzmann equation which describes the kinetics of the self-sustained discharge XeCl laser is developed. The performances of four different gas mixtures, HCl/Xe/Ne, HCl/Xe/He, F₂/Kr/Ne and F₂/Kr/He are compared under the same conditions, and the buffer gas effect is discussed in detail. The HCl/Xe/Ne system shows the best performance. With the Ne buffer gas, the elastic collision loss is remarkably small, whereas the electric circuit loss is large owing to the low discharge resistance. The results on the variation of the input energy and total pressure are qualitatively consistent with the experimental results. Useful knowledge on the design of efficient XeCl lasers is obtained.