Uniform continuous discharges and CO2-laser action at atmospheric pressure by plasma injection

Injection of ionized gas is used to obtain uniform continuous discharges in CO
2
-laser gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure. Power input densities of up to 150 kW/l have been obtained in mixtures of CO
2
/N
2
/He and CO
2
/N
2
/H
2
, and laser action has been obtained in a small device under conditions where the gain coefficient was 0.1 m
^-1
.