A novel method of measuring the delay between pre-ionizing and main discharges in TE gas lasers

Abstract

A simple and reliable method of measurement of the very short delay (tens of nanoseconds) between the pre-ionizing and main discharge currents in a TEA CO2 laser operated in the spiker sustainer configuration has been demonstrated. In this method light emitted from the pre-ionizing spark and the main discharge are first collected separately using optical fibres and then the delay between the onsets of their emission is measured with the help of simple opto-electronic circuits. This method is noise free, since it does not involve measurement of large pulse currents, and can be useful for the measurement of similar delays in the operation of other TE gas lasers.