Characteristics of a transverse-flow CO laser excited by RF-discharge

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/3.299468· OSTI ID:6982457

Kanazawa, Hirotaka; Matsuzaka, Fumio; Uehara, Minoru ^[1]; Kasuya, Koichi ^[2]

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1. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)
2. Tokyo Inst. of Tech., Yokohama (Japan). Dept. of Energy Sciences

The authors have developed a compact, efficient kW-class CO laser excited by transverse radio frequency (RF) discharge. The discharge and output characteristics of the RF-excited CO laser were investigated and were compared with those of the DC-excited one. The RF discharge power at 13.56 MHz was supplied to a discharge volume of 40H x 35W x 280L (mm[sup 3]). Utilization of the RF excitation instead of the DC excitation enhanced the maximum input power, the electrical conversion efficiency and the beam quality. Six gas conditions (pressure, temperature, flow speed, and the concentrations of CO, N[sub 2], and O[sub 2]) were chosen as the experimental parameters. The optimum values of the gas parameters to maximize the output power were 50 torr, 200 K, 17 m/s, 5%, 12% and 0.4%, respectively. The maximum output power obtained was 1.32 kW, with an electrical conversion efficiency of 27% and a slope efficiency of 39%. The specific laser power, which characterizes the scaling law of a transverse-flow laser, was 4.6 kW/m for the length, and 3.3 W/cm[sup 3] for the volume.

• OSTI ID: 6982457
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 30:6; ISSN 0018-9197; ISSN IEJQA7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
CARBON MONOXIDE LASERS
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DISPERSIONS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
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EXCITATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GAS LASERS
INFORMATION
LASERS
MIXTURES
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN
PERFORMANCE
RF SYSTEMS