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A new electron beam-optical procedure is proposed for quasi-cw pumping of high-pressure large-volume He–Ar laser on the 4p[1/2]1– argon atom transition at the wavelength of 912.5 nm. It consists of creation and maintenance of a necessary density of the metastable state in the gain medium by a fast electron beam and subsequent optical pumping of the upper laser level via the classical three-level scheme using a laser diode. Absorption probing is used to study collisional quenching of Ar* metastable in electron-beam-excited high-pressure He–Ar mixtures with a low content of argon. The rate constants for plasma-chemical reactions Ar*  +  He  +  Ar  >    +  He (3.6  ±  0.4)  ×  10−33 cm6 s−1, Ar*  +  2He  >  HeAr*  +  He (4.4  ±  0.9)  ×  10−36 cm6 s−1 and Ar*  +  He  >  Products  +  He (2.4  ±  0.3)  ×  10−15 cm3 s−1 were for the first time measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]