We report a large peak power enhancement and reduction in pulse width for planar waveguide carbon dioxide lasers. Gain modulation through rf discharge power switching produces trains of laser pulses with peak power levels at up to 38 times the cw power level, with a pulse duration as low as 10 μs. Operation at repetition rates in the kHz region preserves the average power (100 W) of the normal cw/long pulse mode of operation. The laser is shown to operate close to the predicted boundaries dictated by thermal loading of the discharge.
A theoretical examination is made of the thermo-acoustic properties of a Rijke burner of large aspect ratio rectangular cross-section. Such a generic device has been proposed by Kok et al. (2009 paper presented at the 16th International Congress on Sound & Vibration) to make canonical studies of combustion instabilities. An aeroacoustic Green's function is derived which permits the sound pressure produced by arbitrary thermal and vortex sources within the burner to be calculated by convolution. The Green's function corresponds to the potential flow sound field produced by an impulsive point source; its calculation taking account of flame-holder geometry is facilitated by use of the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation. The transformation is performed numerically to accommodate complex burner geometry and validated by comparison with an alternative procedure involving the direct numerical integration of Laplace's equation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.