The design of XeF(C-A) laser and measuremant of the pumping source radiation ability are given. The results of experimental study on XeF(C-A) laser properties under different conditions of initial XeF2 concentration, output transmissivity and gas components are reported and analyzed in detail. The area of discharge circuit is reduced efficiently by using the compact pumping source, and the equivalent inductance of discharge circuit is decreased to about 330 nH, so that the deposited efficiency is up to 74% and the average deposited power density of the pumping source is about 12 MW/cm. Radiative intensity of pumping source is diagnosed by calculating XeF2 photodissociation wave evolvement which is photographed by framing camera. The photon flux in the wavelength of 140～170 nm is about 5×1023 s-1cm-2 of which the radiative brightness temperature is more than 25 kK. The effective gain length of laser is 80 cm and a plane-spherical stable resonator is used. A laser energy output in joule level is stably obtained. The maximum output energy is 2.5 J with the total conversion efficiency of 0.1%, and the laser pulse width is about 700 ns.