Gain measurement of TEA-CO2 laser with supersonic gas flow

Go Imada; Hiroyuki Saitou; Masataro Suzuki; Wataru Masuda

doi:10.1117/12.880026

15 November 2010 Gain measurement of TEA-CO₂ laser with supersonic gas flow

Go Imada, Hiroyuki Saitou, Masataro Suzuki, Wataru Masuda

Proceedings Volume 7751, XVIII International Symposium on Gas Flow, Chemical Lasers, and High-Power Lasers; 77510M (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.880026
Event: 18th International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers and High Power Lasers, 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

A TEA-CO₂ laser with a supersonic gas flow has been developed, and the small-signal gain of a laser medium is measured. During the generation of the supersonic gas flow, the laser medium is cooled by the adiabatic expansion through a supersonic nozzle. Since excited CO₂ molecules in the cooled laser medium are concentrated within a specific range of the rotational quantum numbers J, the laser output and its wavelength should be changed by the cooling. An investigation is conducted with a single-pulse excitation discharge in the laser medium flowing at Mach number 2. The laser medium is cooled to 133 K under this condition. It is found that the breakdown voltage, the current, and the power density of the excitation discharge are estimated to be 22 kV, 3.8 kA, and 1.2 MW/cm³, respectively. The small-signal gain for this cooled laser medium is measured to be 2.2 %/cm, which is 1.3 times as high as that obtained for the laser medium at room temperature. It suggests that the TEA-CO2 laser with a supersonic gas flow has a potential for higher laser output. We also find that the wavelength for the maximum gain is 10.494 μm (J = 10) at 133 K, while is 10.551 μm (J = 16) at room temperature.

Citation Download Citation

Go Imada, Hiroyuki Saitou, Masataro Suzuki, and Wataru Masuda "Gain measurement of TEA-CO₂ laser with supersonic gas flow", Proc. SPIE 7751, XVIII International Symposium on Gas Flow, Chemical Lasers, and High-Power Lasers, 77510M (15 November 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.880026

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