We report the designing and application of a positive column pulsed capillary discharge with the Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). The pulsed light source has been used for the first time with the ultraviolet FTS. The experiment has been carried out with the high energy pulsed discharge with energy of 2–3 J lasting about 300 ns. A system has been developed to trigger the discharge at about 600 Hz with the pulses directly taken from the FTS sampling system. The spectrum of Ar III has been recorded in the 19 000–50 000 cm⁻¹ region with good signal to noise ratio. The results have opened a wide range of applications in spectroscopy of multiply ionized species.