Twin sliding discharges are used in an ultraviolet nitrogen laser as a
direct excitation mechanism as well as a preionizer at the same time.
Addition of SF6 is found to cause the appearance of a volume discharg
e between the two sliding discharges and an increase of the laser outp
ut energy by a factor of 9. Under optimum conditions a pulse energy as
high as 3.1 mJ from a 16 cm(3) active volume is achieved. Investigati
ons of the temporal behavior and the spatial properties of the laser o
utput are presented.