An invention concerning the electrode structure of a gas laser device is disclosed. In the outer peripheral part of a discharge gas circulating hole (32) provided in the central part of an upper gas stream side one (16) of electrodes (14) and (16) disposed at both the ends of a discharge tube (8), a plurality of gas circulating apertures (34) are further provided over the entire periphery. A glow discharge portion in the discharge tube (8) is fined towards the central part of the tube by a gas which passes through the outer-peripheral gas circulating apertures (34). Thus, the laser intensity profile becomes the Gaussian distribution, and the laser generation efficiency is enhanced.

A coaxial-type carbon dioxide gas laser includes an oscillator comprising a gas inlet for introducing gas into a discharge tube through a gas supply chamber having a hollow cylindrical body which serves to disturb the gas flow and orientate the gas toward the discharge tube via a space defined between the discharge tube and the hollow cylindrical body. The gas which has been subjected to an electrical discharge is drawn out of the discharge tube through a chamber and a gas outlet connected therewith. A pair of anode and cathode electrodes are disposed adjacent to the ends of the discharge tube. One of the electrodes is mounted on the gas supply chamber and is annular in shape. The gas supply chamber and the hollow cylindrical body jointly define a gap for passage therethrough of the gas fed from the gas inlet toward the discharge tube via the space. The space is large in cross section than the gap. The discharge tube has an inside cross-sectional area smaller than an outside cross-sectional area and larger than the cross-sectional area of the gap.

A high-speed axial flow gas laser oscillator has plurality of laser tubes arranged parallel to and interconnected with one another to form a plurality of parallel, straight length sections for resonating and amplifying a laser gas, electrode means associated with the laser tubes for ionizing and thereby incidently heating a laser gas circulated therethrough, means for circulating the laser gas through the laser oscillator, and heat exchanger means for cooling the laser gas circulated through the laser oscillator. A plurality of gas recirculation paths are positioned on opposite sides of the laser gas circulating means and are disposed symmetrically with respect to the laser gas circulating means and the parallel, straight length sections formed by the laser tubes. Means are disposed in each of the recirculation paths between the laser tubes and the gas recirculation means so as to be symmetrical with respect to the laser tubes and the gas recirculation means for deionizing the laser gas so that the heated laser gas may be recirculated through the heat exchanger and into the laser tubes in an electrically neutral state whereby the flow rates of the laser gas flowing through the laser tubes and the length of the gas recirculation paths are substantially equal, thereby maintaining a temperature increase in each of the laser tubes substantially equal.

A novel electrical discharge gas laser device is provided which comprises a pair of laser discharge cavity portions optically interconnected within a U-shaped optical resonant cavity, the laser cavity portions configured to intercommunicate and share a common power supply.

In a method and apparatus for amplifying and/or generating electromagnetic wave radiation, a gas plasma region having a non-Maxwellian electron distribution is produced by effecting collisions between scattering particles in the gas with free electrons which have been accelerated to an energy level which is greater than that providing maximum probability of collision of the electrons with scattering particles in said gas; and the electromagnetic wave radiation is subjected to the plasma region such as to produce amplification of the radiation by stimulated emission of Bremstrahlung from scattered free electrons in the plasma region.