Pulsed inductive CO₂ laser with radio-frequency excitation and influence of the H₂ content on the efficiency and lasing temporal characteristics

Abstract

In 2021, data on the effective pulsed gas discharge inductive CO2 laser with radio-frequency (RF) excitation were published with a pulse output energy of E∼ 1 J (the efficiency η∼ 14.5%) on the gas mixture He:N2:CO2 = 8:2:1. The efficiency of the developed CO2 laser had exceeded the value η∼ 21% at E∼ 350 mJ. At the beginning of 2022, it was shown that xenon addition (Xe = 4%) to the gas mixture made it possible to achieve an efficiency of η∼ 27% at an output energy of E∼ 600 mJ. For the first time, the effect of hydrogen additives in the active medium (He:N2:CO2:H2 and N2:CO2:H2 gas mixtures) was investigated for a pulsed inductive CO2 laser with RF excitation depending on the RF-pumping pulse duration value (τ), which allows the energy and temporal radiation characteristics of the laser to be controlled over a wider range. In addition to those already published, new experimental data have been obtained, namely the output beam profile of the inductive CO2 laser based on He:N2:CO2 = 8:2:1 gas mixture depending on the τ value. The new data will improve our understanding of inductive CO2 laser physics and of the plasma–chemical processes occurring in its active medium. RF current pulses propagated along inductor wires and, thus, an inductive discharge was formed to create a population inversion by IR transitions of CO2 * molecules.