Аннотация:Until now the nature of instability of a non-self-sustained discharge in gas mixtures has not been clear, though such a discharge is widely used for lasers pumping. To improve understanding of restrictions of limiting energy contributions in a discharge, a comparison of numerical simulation and experiment should be performed. The experiments were carried out by using a device previously described and supplemented with a Mach-Zender interferometer with a photoelectron record to measure the gas temperature. Characteristic discharge current oscillograms and interferograms are given. The simulation of non-self-sustained discharge in the laser mixture and the comparison of results with experiment reveal the importance of plasmochemical processes in presence of small admixtures of O2 and H2O.