Excimer ArF laser 2kHz

In 1980, Arnold developed the excimer laser for the Canadian society PRA.

The parculiarity of this laser is to be ultra compact and produce 2000 pulses per second.

To obtain this performance, the laser consists of a barium titanate Blumlein line with corona preionization electrodes.

A hydrogen thyratron switch is used for discharging the Blumlein line.

A cooling of the gas mixture He/Ar/NF3 consists of a turbocharger driven by a variable frequency electric motor and an aluminum heat exchanger.

The rotation speed is adjustable between 70,000 and 120,000 rpm.

The output energy per pulse is 2 mJ at 2 kHz with a pulse duration of 12 ns.

The wavelength is 193 nm