Abstract
It is shown that the limiting characteristics of CO2 lasers are determined mainly by two parameters: the specific power of the electric discharge, referred to the square of the active medium pressure, and the product of the pumping time and the gas pressure. An investigation is made of the dependence of the efficiency and the radiation pulse shape over a wide range of the parameters. For the first time it is noted that the energy from the lower laser level can be given to the upper vibrational states of the symmetric and deformed modes, which allows high radiation density, ∼0.2 J/cm3 · atm, to be achieved, as is shown by calculation. Because of energy redistribution in the asymmetric mode the limiting gain coefficient in C02 lasers is ∼0.12 cm−1.
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Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 5, pp. 120–131, September–October, 1975.
The authors thank V. N. Vetlutskyi, A. V. Afonin, and A. M. Orishich for their help in the work.
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Ponomarenko, A.G., Soloukhin, R.I. & Tishchenko, V.N. Optimization and limiting characteristics of CO2 lasers. J Appl Mech Tech Phys 16, 774–782 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00854089
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00854089