How critical is the construction of the laser electrode rails with regard to straightness, shape, length etc.?
The laser electrodes, where the actual laser action takes place between them, are usually a couple of long pieces of straight aluminum with thin edges that face each other approx 1mm apart. The adjustment of this spacing is critical but easily done. The idea of making electrodes parallel enough to discharge along their entire length is intimidating especially if you have ever tried to do this along a very long spark gap. Under normal conditions it is perhaps impossible to get a spark jumping across a long narrow pair of electrodes, to cover their entire length. You will always get a tiny bright spark at one place at a time. This was one of the reasons the TEA laser before building one, seemed intimidating. As it turns out in the case of TEA lasers, the extremely fast voltage transition between the electrodes creates a discharge across their entire length. Adjustment for this condition is relatively easy. There are many materials and methods that work well for making TEA laser electrode
