Abstract:
An analysis is made of the excitation kinetics of the active medium of a TEA CO2 laser using different theoretical models: a temperature model, either taking into account or neglecting anharmonicity in the ν3 modes of CO2 and N2, and a model taking into account the level kinetics in the ν3 modes of CO2 and N2. A comparison is made of the results of a calculation with the experimental dependence of the laser output energy on the specific input energy in the range up to 2 J/cm3. The calculated and experimental data are found to agree for a vibrational temperature model taking anharmonicity into account and using a relatively high value, known from the literature, of the constant of the intramode exchange in nitrogen, and for a model taking into account the level kinetics and assuming accumulation of strong relaxants of the upper active level.