Characteristics Of Supersonic Mixing CO 2 Laser Combined With N 2 Axial Glow Discharge

Abstract

This paper deals with experimental and analytical investigation on supersonic CO2 mix-ing laser with N2 axial glow discharge. Measurements of small signal gain coefficient and laser power are conducted by the setup of cluster of glass channels for supersonic N2 glow discharge and CO2 conical screen nozzles. The discharge characteristics are also monitored. Supersonic flow of population inversion is maintained for about 10 seconds in the experiments. To estimate the characteristics of our CO2 mixing laser, vibrationally non-equilibrium analysis for steady and quasi-onedimensional supersonic flow is performed, including N2 molecular activation effects by electron impact in glow discharge. As for the results, steady glow discharge in supersonic N2 flow is obtained, and measured small signal gain and power dependencies on flow parameters, and on discharge parameters are discussed in comparison with the results of numerical estimation.