The principles of laser operation are discussed with emphasis on gas lasers. Previous workon small-diameter, direct-nuclear-pumped, gas lasers is surveyed. Techniques are developed for optimizing laser tube dimensions and gas pressure to obtain most efficient use of the nuclear fragment energy. These techniques are applied to calculate high-pressure, large-diameter, laser tubes for U and for B which both exhibit theoretical efficiencies two orders of magnitude larger than previous small-diameter tubes. The B laser appears feasible, because electrically pumped lasers of similar dimensions and pressure have operated in the pulse mode with up to 80-W output. The U235 laser is much larger in diameter and may require multiple-path operation.
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