The formation of a current-plasma shell is studied during the expansion of a laser-ignited low-power vacuum-discharge cathode plasma jet into the interelectrode gap. The shell geometry is found to be determined by the mode of laser-plasma expansion at the discharge ignition stage. It is shown that the increase in the laser-beam focal spot area on the cathode surface leads to the increase in the matter density and the decrease in the density gradient in the discharge gap and to transition from the spherical laser-plasma expansion mode to the jet mode. The latter considerably stabilizes the current transfer in the discharge plasma, even during the development of the hydrodynamic sausage instability in it.

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