Electric-discharge DF laser with a pulse energy of the order of 10 J

The results of detailed studies of a pulsed DF laser based on the nonchain chemical reaction between fluorine and deuterium are presented. It is shown that the electrode system in the form of knife edges makes it possible to organise a self-sustained volume discharge in a discharge gap up to 12 cm h igh. The dependences of the output energy on the pressure and composition o f the SF6-D-2 active mixture and also on the cavity Q-factor were obtained. A maximum output energy of 10.5 J and a technical efficiency of 2.2% were recorded. It is shown that the calculated model describes the experimental results satisfactorily.