High-pressure sealed CW CO<inf>2</inf>laser with high efficiency

Abstract

Discharge stabilization, long-term operation, output power characteristics, and efficiency of the high-pressure CW CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> laser have been investigated under sealed conditions. A comparison is made with low-pressure CW CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> lasers. Two types of electrode structures suitable for operations in the pressure range 100-760 torr are presented. Effects of O <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> and CO on the discharge stability and unsaturated gain are described. By using molecular sieve <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3A</tex> as an adsorbent of water vapor, which was the most detrimental impurity, sealed operation with no decrease in output power was achieved at 0.5-1.5 kW for more than 150 h elapsed time including about 30 h of discharge time. It has been demonstrated that high efficiency can be obtained in spite of high-pressure and sealed operation. The efficiency was improved by reducing the cavity loss due to the absorption of intracavity radiation by CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> molecules in the unexcited region, and by finding the optimum of gas mixture. A maximum efficiency of 19 percent was obtained at a 1 kW power level for a 100 torr gas mixture of either CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> -CO-N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> -He = 2-1-19-19 or CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> -CO-N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> -He-Ar = 2-1-18-10-10. The effects of Ar and N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> proportion on the unsaturated gain and saturation parameter are discussed.