What characterizes a DC glass laser?

A DC glass laser consists of a long, fragile blown-glass container, filled with a laser gas mixture. Typically, the laser optics are attached directly to the glass in order to seal the laser mixture and form the laser resonator. A high-voltage DC discharge is used to ionize the gas inside, which then produces a laser beam.

DC glass lasers are characterized by low speed of modulation. They cannot be modulated rapidly due to the limitation of having to continuously switch high voltage on and off. This substantially reduces the speed of laser processing and throughput, especially in imaging applications that require high-quality laser pulsing.

-Manny Oropeza, Universal Laser Systems