Plasma cathode TEA Ar laser development

The plasma cathode design concept is applied to an Ar laser for the first time. The sliding discharge is used as a plasma cathode for the main laser discharge. The laser operates at atmospheric pressure with a gas mixture of Ar/He/SF6. Results concerning the dependence of the laser performance on the gas mixture flow rates and charging voltage are presented. The temporal behavior of the laser output is also presented. Output energies as high as 2 mJ, efficiency and specific energy extraction values up to 1.3×10−2% and 0.02 J/l respectively, at atmospheric pressure, are obtained. The spectroscopic examination of the output shows that lasing at 1.79 and 1.27 μm is obtained with approximately equal line intensities.