Gas laser generator with discharge container gas flow circulation

Claim 1

A gas laser generator comprising: an extended container, a plurality of equally, laterally spaced, transversely aligned aerodynamically profiled gas injectors positioned within said container adjacent a first end thereof and forming with said container transfer openings at said first end, an injection pipe opening into said container close to its second end for supplying said container with at least one jet of a first gas capable of being excited by an electric discharge, longitudinally spaced electrodes disposed in the container at respective ends for producing an electrical discharge in the first gas, an extended expansion chamber connected to the first end of the container and increasing in diameter progressively from the first end of the chamber adjacent the container to its second end, evacuation means for maintaining the second end of the expansion chamber at low pressure and for circulating the first gas from the injection pipe through said extended container and into the expansion chamber by way of the transfer openings, said profiled gas injectors including gas discharge nozzles facing into the expansion chamber and supplied with at least one second gas capable of being excited by molecular interaction with the first gas in its excited state and being downstream of said electrical discharge, so as to cause the first and second gases to mix, a cavity capable of amplifying a laser emission in the presence of the second gas in its excited state; said cavity being arranged in the expansion chamber in such a manner as to be traversed by the gaseous mixture downstream of said nozzles, said generator being characterized in that the dimensions of the container, the diameter and position of the injection pipe, the injection rate of the first gas and the dimensions of the transfer openings are such as to produce a whirling flow movement of the first gas longitduinally throughout said container, upstream of said nozzles with a first, inner flow portion extending longitudinally from the second end to the first end, between said electrodes, and at least one second flow portion radially outwards of the first flow portion reversed thereto near the sidewalls of said container.