Enhancement of the breakdown threshold at the surface of a target in a mixture of gases

Enhancement of the breakdown threshold of mixed atomic and molecular gases subjected to laser radiation was predicted and investigated experimentally. The breakdown threshold depended nonmonotonically on the concentration of nitrogen in a mixture of Ar and N₂. The threshold values of the laser radiation intensity for a mixture could be 1.5–2 times greater than the thresholds of each of the gases separately.