Spectroscopic investigation of the plasma of the capillary discharge of a waveguide CO2 laser

The temperature conditions and the chemical composition of the gas in the plasma of a capillary discharge of a waveguide CO₂ laser are investigated It is shown that in helium-rich CO₂–N₂–He mixtures the gas temperature is independent, in a wide range of its variation, of the discharge-tube diameter and of the working-mixture pressure. It is established by the optical actinometry method that capillary discharges are characterized by a stronger decomposition of the working CO₂ molecules and by a higher density of the reaction products than in reduced-pressure discharges in wide tubes.Translated from FIAN Preprint No. 119, Lebedev Physics Institute, Moscow, 1990.