CuBr laser with a reduced energy input into a discharge

The operation of a CuBr laser with a small volume of the active medium for a reduced energy input into a discharge was studied. It was shown that swit ching the commutator to a smaller operating capacitor for a short time perm its a 2.3-fold reduction (relative to the typical operating mode) of the po wer supplied to the discharge without sacrificing any output laser power. B y the application of an additional 'dissociating' pulse, a stationary mode of laser operation was realised, whereby the pump pulse energy was lowered by a factor of 10 without loss in the output power.