A recently developed simple photopreionization‐stabilized discharge scheme was adapted successfully to the excitation of XeF and KrF lasers at pressures of 0–1500 Torr. The authors report on the stabilization and excitation characteristics of F2and NF3 : Xe : He discharges over a wide range of energy loadings. These results summarize and compare the detailed fluorescence and gain measurements. The (nonoptimized) XeF output energies of ∼1 J/liter compare favorably with those of other devices.