N$_2$ laser pumped by a generator with inductive energy storage and a semiconductor current breaker

The feasibility of using commercial semiconductor diodes for interrupting the current in a pulse generator with inductive energy storage, designed for pumping gas lasers, was demonstrated experimentally. The efficiency of stimulated emission as a result of the $C^3\Pi_u-B^3\Pi_g$ ($\lambda$ = 337 nm) transition in nitrogen was $0.2\%$ relative to the energy deposited during an emission pulse. Such pulse generators should be useful in pumping incoherent excimer and exciplex light sources ('excilamps') and pulsed dense-gas lasers.