A long-pulse high-energy CO2laser pumped by an ultraviolet-sustained electric discharge

A UV-sustained electric-discharge CO
2
laser has demonstrated optical energy-density extraction and long-pulse performance competitive with current
e
-beam sustained devices. Atmospheric-pressure CO
2
-N
2
-He mixtures seeded with tri-n-propylamine are volumetrically photoionized using the 1200-1700-Å radiation from a spark-array source. Laser pulse lengths up to 37 μs have been achieved with a specific energy of 47 J/1.atm. The best specific energy demonstrated was 60 J/1.atm in a 23-μs pulse.