KrF Laser Studies at High Krypton Density

Measurements were made of the intrinsic laser efficiency of the KrF excimer laser system as a function of increasing krypton buffer gas at pump rates up to 0.17 MW/cm³. The results show that the laser efficiency monotonically increases with increased krypton concentration to a maximum value of 12% for a pure krypton buffer gas. Code calculations show very good agreement with experiment.