Mixing gasdynamic laser driven by decomposed gas of liquid N2O

Abstract

A high-temperature decomposed gas of liquid nitrous oxide is employed as a donor gas in a downstream mixing gasdynamic laser. A small-signal gain and a laser power have been measured as a function of H2O concentration at the CO2 (001)–(100) transition. The maximum gain and power were obtained at ∼0.1% H2O concentration which is almost an order of magnitude smaller than the values reported for the CO2+N2+H2O gasdynamic lasers.