Preionization of a gas by electrodeless capacitative pulses in lasers operating in the pulse-periodic regime

A method was developed for the preionization of a gas in high-pressure pulsed lasers. An electrodeless breakdown was induced in the gas by high-voltage pulses applied to the bulk of the gas by a capacitative method. This method was applied to a pulse-periodic CO₂ laser. The experiments carried out on this laser confirmed the effectiveness of this relatively simple preionization method, which ensured a high homogeneity of the discharge at atmospheric pressures.