Abstract: A pulsed gas laser in which a multitude of sheet-form conductors are assembled face to face with aligned apertures defining a beam path through the thickness of the assembly. In the embodiment shown the conductors are paired to form transmission lines, one conductor of each transmission line being interrupted and exposed at the aperture to form a discharge gap while the opposite conductor is electrically isolated from the aperture. The impedance introduced to the transmission line discharge circuit by a suitable aperture is found to be sufficiently low to permit application of a fast rise voltage wave for energizing gas at the gap. Increase in the number of elements in the assembly can progressively increase performance over a wide range.

Abstract: A laser featuring, in one aspect, a volume of gas having a lasing constituent, a light source arranged to emit light having ionizing photons for ionizing the gas, the effective photon energy spectrum of the ionizing photons lying below the ionization potential of the lasing constituent and below the level of photon absorption bands of the gas, the spectrum being selected to provide an average penetration depth of the ionizing photons into the gas of at least 1 cm. and to photoionize the gas predominantly by a multiple step process involving absorption of successive photons at least the first of which has a photon energy less than the ionization potential of said lasing constituent, and an electric field source for applying to the gas a voltage sufficient to produce an avalanche breakdown in the gas to effectively raise the lasing constituent to its lasing level; and in another aspect a seed gas comprising an amine having the structure ##EQU1## where R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.