State of the Art of Research on Pulsed Gas-Discharge Lasers; Statement of the Problem

Abstract

Although not much time has elapsed since the first experiments on the pulsed excitation of gas lasers, the total volume of published data relating to the problem is rather extensive. This situation is attributable primarily to purely quantitative factors, namely the large number of active substances in which lasing has been detected and the tremendous number of observable emission lines. Each individual case of lasing has actually been studied relatively little. All of these considerations render it exceedingly difficult to make an exhaustive survey of the literature as is usually done in such cases. We shall, instead, seek to give a general description of research on pulsed gas lasers, with the intention, on the one hand, of demonstrating the status of the present investigations in the overall program relative to pulsed gas lasers and, on the other hand, of focusing the maximum attention on those problems which have direct bearing on the topic of the present study.