Investigation of the character of strata excitation in a helium-neon plasma

Experimental results are reported concerning the characteristics of strata excitation in a dc helium-neon discharge. Strata were excited in a cold-cathode discharge tube at currents less than 2.3 mA and greater than 4.5 mA. The dependences of the stabilization and decay times of strata on the discharge parameters were measured. It is shown that, over a time of 200-250 microsec, all the transient processes in the discharge decay and the stratum reaches its stationary value. Accordingly, it is necessary to make an appropriate selection of the discharge-current variation frequency when using the modulation technique to investigate the effect of strata on the parameters of laser devices.