Devices, systems, and methods control pulse energies of excimer and other lasers, particularly for refractive correction in which a pulse rate, pulse energy, or other parameters of a pulsed laser is varied during use. A calibration laser mode may be used to fire a series of laser pulses to characterize a correlation between laser energy and a laser operation parameter (typically discharge high voltage) throughout a range. During an operation mode, subsequent voltages may be set based on energies of prior pulses while accounting for a curve or change in rate of the correlation.