The Using of Soft X-ray Radiation Created by a Nanosecond Sliding Discharge Plasma for Preionization of an Active Medium in Gas Lasers

Abstract

This work is dedicated to a method for preionization of a laser medium (that is the most popular ones-CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> - and CO-lasers) using X-ray radiation created by a nanosecond sliding discharge (NSD). An experimental study has been carried out on the influence of the initial pressure and the composition of the gaseous medium on the intensity of X-ray bremsstrahlung. In order to estimate this intensity, a special sensor is used; it can measure free electron density that, in our, case is created during photoionization by X-ray radiation from an NSD. It is shown that in case an X-ray emitter is filled with argon, the photoelectron density in the vicinity of a cathode is about 15 times higher than in case the X-ray emitter is filled with helium. Moreover, when the gas volume of the X-ray emitter is filled with argon, the energy spectrum of the “runaway” electrons shifts to the region of lower values of their energy.