Excitation of high-pressure laser media by a discharge through an insulator

A method is considered for exciting high-pressure laser media by a discharge through an insulator. The parameters of insulating materials which determine the energetics of a discharge suitable for exciting various laser media are found. It is shown experimentally that the optimum regimes for supplying energy to the discharge for CO₂ lasers and for inert-gas atomic-transition lasers can be achieved using discharges through pyroceramic and glass respectively. A power supply circuit is proposed which enables the quantity E/p in the discharge plasma to be varied over wide limits. It is indicated that this method may be applicable to the excitation of high-pressure cw lasers.