Features of the formation of a high-current volume discharge in a CO2 laser with plasma electrodes

A study is reported of the voltage between the electrodes of a plasma sheet as a function of the pressure and composition of the gaseous laser medium. Also studied is the effect of ionizational breeding on the characteristics of an externally sustained discharge in a system with two plasma electrodes and an active medium with a cross-section of 70 x 70 millimeters. This study of the operating regimes of a laser with plasma electrodes confirms the promising outlook for this method of arranging high-current volume discharges, since the characteristics of the grazing discharge improve as the amount of helium in the mixture is reduced, and the use of ionizational breeding is most effective at those values of E/P which maximize the laser efficiency.