Calculation of some characteristics of a cw carbon dioxide laser with a non-self-maintained discharge

A simple method is given for the analytic calculation of the energy distribution function of electrons in arbitrary mixtures of CO₂, N₂, He, Xe, and other gases. The influence of easily ionizable admixtures and of an external ionization source on the distribution function is discussed. An analytic calculation is made of the distribution of the parameters of a gas stream, laser level populations, and gain for a gas-discharge channel in which the initial velocity is less than 100 m/sec. It is shown that an increase in the pressure of a mixture accompanied by a proportional increase in the pump power should result in lowering of the value of the gain and in narrowing of the gain band along the stream.