This book deals with gasdynamic lasers (GDL)-high-energy sources of co- directional radiation. The theory and practice of gasdynamic lasers herent are based on three fields of modern science: quantum electronics, physico- chemical kinetics, and gasdynamics. This circumstance has determined the content of this book, which can be divided into two parts. The first four which occupy a considerable part of the book, prepare the reader chapters, for discussing the theoretical and experimental results of up-to-date GDL studies. The necessity of such a presentation is dictated by the fact that...