Abstract
A coaxial unstable resonator using a vortex tube to cool a convex mirror has been developed for a transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 laser. The time dependent thermal deformation of the convex mirror was analyzed by using the finite element method. The simulated results indicate that the vortex-tube-cooling system can remarkably reduce the thermal deformation of the convex mirror, especially at long working times. Also, an experimental verification was carried out, and the results show that the developed vortex-tube-cooling coaxial unstable resonator system is an effective and applicable cooling method for a convex mirror. The divergence angle drops from 3.19 to 1.78 mrad, and the times-diffraction-limit factor β decreases from 6.94 to 1.78 if using the vortex-tube-cooling system when the repetition rate is 3 Hz and the continuous working time is 300 s.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
