Pulsed gas laser

Claim 1

A HIGH EFFICIENCY PULSED GAS LASER FOR PRODUCING A PULSED OUTPUT OF COHERENT ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY HAVING A PEAK POWER OUTPUT SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THAT OF A CONTINUOUS WAVE LASER, COMPRISING A GAS TUBE CONTAINING A LASSABLE GAS PROCESSING TWO ENERGY LEVELS BETWEEN WHICH LASING CAN OCCUR, AND HAVING PARTIALLY REFLECTIVE SURFACES ADJACENT THE ENDS OF THE TUBE, ALIGNED SO AS TO DEFINE AN OPTICALLY RESONANT CAVITY SPACED CATHODE AND ANODE ELECTRODES DISPOSED IN OPERATIVE RELATION TO SAID TUBE, AND MEANS FOR SUPPLYING HIGH VOLTAGE, SHORT DURATION PULSES TO SAID ELECTRODES THEREBY TO PRODUCE A FREE ELECTRON DENSITY IN SAID GAS, SUCH ELECTRONS BEING ACCELERATED IN THE FIELD GENERATED BY SAID HIGH VOLTAGE PULSES, SAID PULSES HAVING A FAST RISE TIME AND A DURATION LESS THAN THE DIFFUSION TIME OF THE FREE ELECTRONS FROM CATHODE TO ANODE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SAID FIELD TO BRING ABOUT A POPULATION OF THE UPPER LASER LEVEL OF SAID GAS FROM WHICH STIMULATED EMISSION CAN TAKE PLACE AS LONG AS THE LOWER LASER LEVEL OF SAID GAS HAS NOT BECOME SIGNIFICANTLY POPULATED, SUCH RADIATIVE EMISSION IN SAID RESONANT CAVITY GROWING BY COHERENT AMPLIFICATION AND ESCAPING FROM SAID CAVITY THROUGH SAID PARTIALLY REFLECTIVE SURFACES AS A PULSED COHERENT BEAM, THE HIGH EFFICIENCY OF THE OVERALL LASING PROCESS BEING MADE POSSIBLE BY THE UTILIZATION OF HIGH VOLTAGE PULSES OF SUFFICIENTLY SHORT DURATION AS TO AVOID SIGNIFICANT POPULATION OF SAID LOWER LEVEL.