Patent ID: 6370174
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: G03F,H01S

Abstract:
A tunable narrow band F2 injection seeded laser system comprising:A) a tunable seed laser means having a first gain medium for generating a narrow band seed beam centered at a wavelength of approximately 157.6 nm, B) an amplifying means having second gain medium for amplifying said seed beam to produce an output laser beam at a wavelength of about 157.6 nm with a bandwidth of less than 0.8 pm, said amplifying means comprising: C) a laser chamber module comprising a laser chamber comprising: 1) at least two elongated electrodes; 2) a laser gas comprised of a) fluorine, and b) a buffer gas mixture comprising helium and neon; 3) a gas circulator for circulating said gas between said electrodes at speeds of at least two cm/millisecond D) a pulse power system of a power supply and pulse compression and amplification circuits and pulse power controls for producing high voltage electrical pulses of at least 14,000 volts across said electrodes at rates of at least about 1000 Hz; and E) a laser pulse energy control system for controlling the voltage provided by said pulse power system, said control system comprising a laser pulse energy monitor and a computer processor programmed with an algorithm for calculating, based on historical pulse energy data, electrical pulses needed to produce laser pulses having pulse energies within a desired range of energies.