Short delay time UV preionized TEA CO2 laser operating with binary CO2/H2 and CO2/He gas mixtures

In order to obtain short tail-free output laser pulses from a TEA CO₂ laser, parametric study of the laser operation with CO₂/H₂ and CO₂/He binary gas mixtures containing high CO₂ concentrations was carried out. A small scale UV preionized short delay time TEA CO₂ laser was employed. In terms of the maximum extractable output pulse energy and power, the more conventional CO₂/He gas mixture was found to be inferior in comparison with the CO₂/H₂ mixture proposed here.