According to the latest research published in APL Photonics, a team led by Professor Liang Xu from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has successfully developed an ultra-compact excimer laser with a volume roughly the size of a thermos. Excimer lasers, as key sources of deep ultraviolet light, have wide applications in scientific research, industrial processing, environmental monitoring, and other fields. However, traditional excimer lasers rely on mechanical gas pumps for medium circulation, resulting in large size, significant noise and vibration, which limit their use in field, marine exploration, and airborne platforms.

To address these challenges, the research team innovatively replaced the traditional mechanical pump with a multi-needle corona discharge electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump. This change eliminated the need for moving parts and successfully reduced the system volume to Ø130mm × 300mm. Using a self-developed non-intrusive point schlieren velocimetry technique, the team measured a gas flow velocity of 1.27m/s inside the laser cavity. The system operates stably at 100Hz with a gas refresh rate of up to 6.35, pulse energy exceeding 2mJ, and excellent energy stability with a relative standard deviation as low as 1%. The study also revealed explosive leap behavior in laser pulse energy under specific conditions. Through in-depth analysis of the photochemical reactions in the XeCl excimer network, this phenomenon was found to be closely related to threshold-driven photon flux bursts.

Additionally, the research team developed an interpretable machine learning model capable of accurately predicting energy conversion under various operating parameters, providing strong support for the optimization and control of ultra-compact excimer laser systems in practical applications.