Pulse-periodic open-cycle CO2 laser with an average output power of 500 W

The use of an electrode system with a plasma cathode and ultraviolet preionization of the discharge gap in a CO₂–air mixture at a pressure of 130 Torr produced an average output power of 500 W when the pulse repetition frequency was 250 Hz and the energy per pulse was 2 J. The addition of easily ionizable components made it possible to reduce the ratio E/p from 24 to 17 V·cm^–1·Torr^–1 and to increase the efficiency from 7 to 11%. It was found that E/p and the discharge efficiency were independent of the voltage across the storage capacitor and were governed only by the composition of the active mixture. The average output power increased linearly with the pulse repetition frequency. The maximum repetition frequency was found to be 1.3 times less than the calculated value.