Shape and energy of pulses emitted by a carbon dioxide laser with a helical distribution of electrodes

The energy of the output pulses of a helical transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO₂ laser was studied as a function of the energy supplied to the discharge, which was varied in several ways, and of the factors which influenced the shape of the output pulses. The appearance and length of tails in the output pulses were affected by the composition of the mixture and its total pressure as well as by the mode structure of the output radiation. The laser was operated at pressures from 50 torr to 1 atm. The energy of the output pulses reached 1.2 J. The minimum divergence of the output beam was 1 mrad.