Enhanced performance of a wide-aperture copper vapour laser with hydrogen additive in neon buffer gas

Abstract

A wide-aperture copper vapour laser was demonstrated at ∼10 kHz rep-rate with hydrogen additive in its buffer gas. Maximum power in excess of ∼50 W (at 10 kHz) was achieved by adding 1.96% hydrogen to the neon buffer gas at 20 mbar total gas pressure. This increase in output power was about 70% as compared to ∼30 W achieved with pure neon at 5.5 kHz rep-rate. The 70% enhancement achieved was significantly higher than the maximum reported value of 50% so far in the literature. The enhancement was much higher (about 150%) as compared to its 20 W power at 10 kHz rep-rate using pure neon as the standard CVL operation.

Laser Beam MicroMachining (LBMM) – A review

“…CVLs operate in the visible region (510.6-578.2 nm) and have wide application in research and industry [37]. It produces green and yellow light from a mixture of copper vapor and helium or neon and the laser action takes place due to high energy electrons and neutral copper atoms.…”