Metal vapor laser discharge device

Claim 1

A metal-vapor laser discharge device responsive to a given operating voltage applied thereto for producing a discharge therein, said device comprising: a. a gas-filled envelope having a longitudinal axis, said envelope being divided into first and second spaced portions, and an intermediate portion therebetween interconnecting sid first and second portions thereof; b. a cold cathode electrode located wholly within said first portion and an anode electrode located wholly within said second portion, said gas including as a fraction thereof a given metal vapor which is cataphoretically transported through said intermediate portion in a direction from said anode electrode toward said cathode electrode in response to a discharge in said device; c. a condenser located wholly within said first portion and positioned between said cathode electrode and said intermediate portion for condensing transported metal vapor entering said first portion and preventing substantially all of it from reaching said cathode electrode, and d. separation means for dividing said intermediate portion into an axial bore region and an auxiliary region which communicate with each other only at a predetermined plural number of given spaced points along the length of said intermediate portion, said separation means including a plurality of longitudinallydistributed, separate, spaced conductive grid elements located wholly within said auxiliary region of said intermediate portion, each of said grid elements dividing an entire cross section of solely said auxiliary region into a plurality of gas diffusing openings separated from each other by conductive material, the maximum size of any of said openings being sufficiently small to prevent a discharge from passing therethrough, and the spacing between any pair of adjacent grid elements being such that the potential difference existing therebetween in response to said operating voltage being applied to said anode and cathode electrodes is below the coldcathode breakdown voltage between that pair of adjacent grid elements, and wherein the overall length occupied by all of said longitudinally-distributed grid elements and all of said spaced points is substantially greater than the minimum longitudinal distance from said condenser to the one of said spaced points closest thereto.