ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the main reactions determining the operation of exciplex lasers. In photochemistry, an exciplex (excited complex) is a chemical compound (or a complex), which is strongly bound in an excited electronic state, but which readily decays (dissociates) in the ground state. An excimer is an exciplex consisting of identical atoms or fragments (a dimer, a trimer and polymer). Lasers utilizing exciplex molecules are quite frequently called excimers but not exciplex lasers, following the nomenclature of rare-gas dimer lasers. The main features of exciplex lasers are related to the large width of the photodissociative-transition band and the important role played by chemical reactions in plasma formed by strong pumping of dense gases. Exciplex lasers are widely employed for fundamental and applied research. The lasing threshold of exciplex lasers is lower than the lasing threshold of excimer lasers.
