Formation of volume discharges in dense gases at pulse repetition rates up to 10 kHz

Abstact It is shown that for the formation of stable volume discharges at pulse repetition frequencies up to 10 kHz and more, it is recommended to use sectioning of the discharge gap with subsequent excitation of discharges in each section from an autonomous pulse generator. The role of an autonomous pulse generator can also be performed by an auxiliary circuit that directs the necessary part of the energy stored in the main energy storage of a pulse generator with only a single switch to an individual discharge gaps. The description and results of the study of one of these variants of a partitioned discharge gap and a pulse generator are given. Pumping energy densities of 100–150 mJ-cm−3 at pulse repetition frequencies up to 8 kHz in CO2 laser mixtures and 80–100 mJ-cm−3 in N2-Ne and Xe–Ne mixtures at pulse repetition frequencies up to 10 kHz were achieved.