Influence of easily ionizable substances on the stability of a volume self-sustained discharge in working CO2 laser mixtures

The main mechanisms of instabilities in a volume self-sustained discharge were identified by investigating the influence of easily ionizable substances and of other impurities on the duration of stable burning of such a discharge in N₂ and in CO₂–N₂ mixtures when the initial electron density depended weakly on the gas composition. The results obtained demonstrated the dominant role played by multistage ionization in the development of instabilities in volume self-sustained discharges in working CO₂ laser mixtures and the need to use easily ionizable substances for the suppression of these instabilities.