CW 20 kW SAGE CO[sub 2] laser for industrial use. [Silent-discharge Assisted Glow discharge Excitation]

Journal Article · Tue Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 1993 · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/3.259404· OSTI ID:7207311

Nagai, Haruhiko ^[1]; Hishii, Masao ^[2]; Tanaka, Masaaki; Myoi, Yasuhito; Yagi, Toshinori ^[3]; Wakata, Hitoshi ^[4]; Tabata, Norikazu ^[5]

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1. Advanced Material-Processing and Machining Technology Research Association, Osaka (Japan)
2. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Nagoya (Japan)
3. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Hyogo (Japan). Manufacturing Development Lab.
4. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Hyogo (Japan). Central Research Lab.
5. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Hyogo (Japan). Industrial Electronics and Systems Lab.

A new type of high-power CW CO[sub 2] laser with power output of more than 20 kW is described. The laser consists of a discharge excitation system named SAGE (Silent-discharge (SD) Assisted Glow discharge Excitation) and a ZnSe or a KCl transmissive window to extract high quality beams with axisymmetric intensity profile from a confocal positive-branch unstable resonator. The SAGE is effective to form a uniformly distributed and stable discharge in a large-volume and high-pressure gas excitation medium. Together with appropriate high-pressure gas conditions leading to low dissociation rate of CO[sub 2] and with using the properly selected zeolite to adsorb water vapor in the laser chamber, the transmissive windows have enabled gas-sealed operations. Prior to the design of the 20-kW SAGE laser, small-scaled experiments of the SAGE and stress analyses of the window were studied. The structure of the 20-kW SAGE laser and its performance characteristics such as SD power, magnification factor of the unstable resonator and gas pressure dependences of the power output, long-term gas-sealed operation, and beam quality are described in detail. The maximum CW power of 26.5 kW with an efficiency of 16.5 percent is attained through the ZnSe window, and a 20.3 kW power output is extracted through the KCl window. A long-term gas-sealed operation at a CW power level of 20 kW is demonstrated during a period of 65 hours.

• OSTI ID: 7207311
• 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. 29:12; ISSN 0018-9197; ISSN IEJQA7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
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