A 4-CHANNEL TEA N2 LASER CONTROLLED BY A MULTISTAGE SPARK GAP

A four-channel nanosecond transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) N2 la ser controlled by a simple and cost effective multistage spark gap whi ch offers a high flexibility in varying the time sequence of the laser pulses from over 100 ns to as low as 5 ns is described. The delays be tween these laser pulses depend mainly on two important spark gap brea kdown parameters: the charging voltage and their respective gap separa tions. The jitters between these laser pulses are observed to be indep endent of the initial ignition of the multistage spark gap-hence a pre cision and very fast triggering technique that is usually crucial for such work can be dispensed with.