Results of an experimental study of the spectral brightness of SRS radiation excited in lead vapors with wide-band (two lines 3-cm−1 wide) and narrow-band (0.1 and 0.01 cm−1) radiation of a XeCl laser with angular divergence close to the diffraction limit are presented. It is shown that the width of the SRS line is limited by the Doppler broadening, the SRS efficiency for a narrow-band beam increases by a factor of two, and the divergence of SRS radiation, which is characterized by the fraction of energy found within the diffraction angle, exceeds the divergence of pump radiation by a factor of 3 to 4.

Thus, the investigations of the conversion of high-grade XeCl-laser emission in SRS in metal vapors and in hydrogen gas have demonstrated the possibility of achieving high efficiencies. The best efficiency for metals, 92% in copper vapor having the largest detuning and smallest parasitic losses of the pump beam. The SRS efficiency in hydrogen in the 2nd and 3rd Stokes components were 50% and 37%, respectively, at the rather low pressures 2–3 atm.

Results are presented of experimental studies dealing with divergence of the narrowband radiation from an electric-discharge XeCl laser operating under injection locking and single-pass amplification. It is shown that radiation brightness under injection locking is twice higher than that after single-pass amplification.

The results are presented of an experimental investigation of injection locking in an XeCl laser with output energies of 30–40 J in a 300-ns pulse, using a 100-ns external signal pulse with a 0.2-cm−1 line width and an energy of 10 mJ. When the axial region of an unstable resonator was filled by the external signal from the start of pumping to the attainment of the lasing threshold, 90% of the lasing energy was concentrated in the injected line.

Results are presented of experimental studies of injection locking in a XeCl laser with the output energy of 30-40 J and emission pulse duration of 300 ns. The external signal was 100 ns in duration, featured the linewidth of 0.2 cm-1 and energy of 10 mJ. When the axial region of the unstable resonator was filled with the external signal in the interval from beginning of pumping up to the moment when the threshold was achieved 90 % of the lasing energy belonged to the injected line.

A compact two-cavity XeCl electric-discharge laser is described that has an output-pulse duration of 100 nsec, an output energy of almost-equal-to 100 mJ, a beam divergence at 80% energy of 2.10(-4) rad, and a line width of 0.04 angstrom at a wavelength of 307.9 or 308.2 nm.

An investigation was made of the conditions under which control was possible of a narrowband XeCl laser with injection locking when the duration of the output pulses of this laser was 60 nsec and the duration of an external signal was 15 nsec. A definition of the efficiency of injection locking of an XeCl laser was introduced. It was found that this efficiency reached 95% when the intensity of the external control signal was ~2 W/cm2, but the efficiency fell to zero when the intensity was 7 mW/cm2. The output power of the laser exceeded 100 kW and the divergence was within 0.15 mrad when the spectral line width was 5 pm.

A determination was made of the characteristics of an electric-discharge XeCl laser with x-ray preionization and quasi-cw excitation. An electrical line with ceramic capacitors was used for the first time as a storage device. A specific laser output energy of 3.25 J/liter and an efficiency of approx.1.6% was achieved. Matching of the line and discharge gap impedances was found to be possible at high charging voltages by adding helium to the Ne--Xe--HCl active medium.