A detailed description of the design and experimental techniques of the XeF(C-A) laser pumped by segmented surface discharge radiation is given. An optical pumping source is developed on the basis of a segmented surface discharge with a brightness temperature Tb≈1.5×104 K emitting at 140 nm～170 nm. The characteristics of an XeF(C-A) laser pumped by this source are studied. The pulses width (FWHM)of this laser is 340 ns and the width of the emission spectrum (470 nm～495 nm) is about 15 nm.