Electric-discharge CO laser utilizing a hydrogen-containing mixture

It was found experimentally that in an electric-discharge continuous-flow CO laser operated at room temperature, traces of hydrogen in the active mixture caused a sharp drop in the lasing power, whereas in a liquid-nitrogen-cooled laser, hydrogen could be added to the mixture in a concentration an order of magnitude higher than the carbon monoxide concentration. Addition of H₂ to a binary CO:He = 1:15 mixture increased the output power by a factor of 50.