Theoretical and experimental studies of the plasma processes in hollow cathode discharge lasers

Experimental studies have been performed for copper ion laser excitation in a longitudinal hollow cathode discharge (HCD). It is demonstrated that as a result of the geometrical electrode composition, a strong axial inhomogeneity exists which strongly affects the excitation efficiency of the discharge and the operation of the laser. The influence of the discharge parameters and the electrode configuration on the laser power is investigated at optimal conditions for laser oscillation. We started to develop a general simulation model that can be used as a tool to optimise the discharge geometry and will enable more profound studies of the HCD plasma. Preliminary results and comparison with experiments are presented. A good qualitative agreement in plasma behaviour is observed