Segmented pulsed discharge for metastable argon lasing medium

Direct current pulsed discharge is a promising route for producing high-density metastable particles required for optically pumped rare gas lasers [OPRGLs). Such metastable densities are easily realized in small discharge volumes at near atmospheric pressures, but problems appear when one is trying to achieve a large volume of plasma for high-power output. In this work, we examined the volume scalability of high-density metastable argon atoms by segmented discharge configuration.Two discharge zones attached with peaking capacitors were connected parallelly by thin wires, through which the peaking capacitors were charged and of which the inductance functioned as ballasting impendence to prevent discharging in only one zone. A uniform and dense plasma with the peak value of the number densities of Ar [1 s~5) on the order of 1013cm-3was readily achieved. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using segmented discharge for OPRGL development.