Abstract

The basic principles that underlie the initiation of a volume self-sustained discharge, which is to be used for pumping CO₂ and N₂O lasers, are discussed. The experimental results for discharge stability, optical homogeneity, and scalability of the laser active medium are reported. Characteristics of CO₂ lasers with apertures of up to 70 cm and active volumes of up to 400 L, as well as of N₂O lasers with apertures of up to 20 cm and active volumes of up to 60 L, are presented.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

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