Abstract

It has long been recognized that preionization can improve discharge laser stability and output power. Various methods such as double discharges, injection of high energy electron beams, and UV photoionization have been used for preionization. However, a third electrode is required for these methods that increases construction complexities especially for lasers operated at the high temperature such as HgBr laser. Reported here are the experimental results of using RF for preionization without adding an auxilliary electrode.

© 1983 Optical Society of America