The barium-vapor laser emitting in the near infrared has reached by now, together with the copper-vapor laser, parameters such as average power and efficiency comparable with those of high-power pulsed gas-discharge lasers (PGL). Its output parameters are only little inferior to those of the copper-vapor laser, which is practically the only one used in scientific research. Such lasers are usually modeled by solving the differential equations that describe the processes in PGL, but the accuracy of the results is insufficient for practical applications. More effective for these purposes is the method of physical modeling of PGL, based in the premise that the PGL processes responsible for lasing are similar. The present paper is devoted to an investigation of a barium-vapor laser with an aim at developing PGL active elements (AE) in which optimal conditions for lasing are realized in new scales. The similarity of process in a PGL speciment and a model makes it possible to use as the specimen any self-igniting laser using the vapor of the same metal, with the same discharge and with the same excitation scheme. The emission parameter in the PGL model, however, will be optimal only if the sample used is a laser whosemore » AE and pump source have been optimized to obtain a maximum average power. The authors therefore systematize here the known experimental results. To this end they have calculated, by the physical-modeling method, the optimal parameters of the AE and of the pump source for specified values of the cross section and length of the discharge channel, and for the voltage of its storage capacitor. The calculation results are listed. Comparison of the calculated and experimental parameters of the PGL shows them to agree well, indicating that the analyzed PGL are similar, so that any one of them can be used as a sample.« less