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A study of the performance of high energy coaxial flashtube systems designed for pumping fluid laser media is presented. The properties of such systems are described and construction details of the flashtubes studied are given. Temporal and spectral characteristics of the optical output from the flashtubes have been measured at various values of system parameters. Optimum system parameters for high luminous efficiency, uniform discharge pattern and long life of the flashtubes have been obtained. The effects of radio-frequency preionisation on the optical output, discharge pattern and overall performance of cc"xial flashtubes have been investigated. The use of these coaxial flashtubes as potential pump sources for organic dye and iodine photodissociation lasers is considered. Efficient laser output from atomic iodine is reported