Carbon dioxide laser with an e-beam-initiated discharge produced in the working gas mixture at a pressure up to 5 atm

A high-pressure CO₂ laser with a discharge initiated by an electron beam of sub-nanosecond duration in the laser gas mixture at a pressure up to 5 atm is fabricated. For the 20-ns pulses the energy from the active volume ~4 cm³ amounted to 40 mJ. The laser operation at a pulse repetition rate up to 5 Hz is demonstrated. In the gas mixture CO₂ : N₂ : He = 1 : 1 : 6 at a pressure 5 atm, the specific energy deposition of ~0.07 J cm^-3 atm^-1 is obtained in the process of a non-self-sustained discharge with ionisation amplification.