USE OF AN LC TRANSMISSION-LINE TO SUPPLY THE DISCHARGE IN A PULSED ELECTRON-BEAM-CONTROLLED CO LASER

The first description is given of an electron-beam-controlled (EBC) CO laser with the main discharge supplied from an LC transmission line. This line significantly weakened superelastic collisions of the discha rge electrons with the vibrationally excited CO molecules. The time de pendences of the output radiation power of an EBC CO laser supplied fr om an LC transmission line were different from the corresponding depen dences for the laser with a capacitor bank. Under the same conditions the efficiency of the laser with an LC transmission line (eta = 22% at T = 140 K for a CO:N2 = 1:19 mixture) was higher than the efficiency of a laser with a capacitor bank (eta almost-equal-to 15%). The use of an LC line as the pump considerably reduced (by a factor of up to 10( 5)) the probability of damage to a titanium foil which separated the e lectron gun from the discharge chamber of the laser, compared with the corresponding probability for the laser with a capacitor bank.