New Preionization Techniques For Gas Lasers By Using A Formed Ferrite Plasma Source

Gas laser preionization techniques using formed ferrite plasma sources (FFPS) are proposed and experimentally demonstrated in two different ways of both a long-distance uniform UV light source and a new type of plasma cathode intended for x-ray generation. The UV source worked well as a preionizer by creating a linear plasma over a 36-cm span along CO2-laser electrodes in an 1:1:8 mixture of 1 atm, and enabled the laser to operate under high energy depositions up to 300 J/l-atm. An x-ray gun diode employing a 6-cm FFPS as a plasma cathode showed high perveance for the small cathode dimension allowing a high anode current of 150 A at 70-kV applied voltage for generating x-rays. The possibilty of the FFPS as new preionization sources for both single-shot and high-repetition-rate operation of excimer and CO2 lasers is discussed.