A Compact, Sealed, Single Mode TEA-CO2 Laser,
Abstract
A compact, sealed, TEA-CO2 laser utilizing a double-discharge technique has been constructed and operated under single-mode conditions. Sealed operational lifetimes exceeding 1,000,000 pulses have been obtained by the addition of small quantities of hydrogen and CO to the initial gas mixtures. It has also been found that operation without helium is possible giving single-mode output energies of about 35 mJ/pulse at peak powers of about 150 kW. The pulse repetition frequency was 0.5/s. To obtain single-longitudinal-mode operation, the laser cavity was kept at on overall length of 18 cm. This short laser cavity allowed the oscillation of only one longitudinal mode when the frequency of the cavity was tuned closely to the CO2 line centre frequency. An iris was used to restrict transverse modes to the TEM. Beat frequency measurements using a stable, CW CO2 laser indicate a chirp of about 5-6 MHz/microsec in the tail of the pulse. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA056661
Entities
People
- M. Lacombe
- P. Pace