Characteristics of a CO2 laser excited by a capacitative ac discharge

An experimental study was made of a model of a steady-state fast-flow CO₂ laser excited by a 10 kHz ac capacitative discharge. The results of an optimization of the laser operating regimes agree with those obtained from calculations. According to these results a commercial laser with a power of ~20 kW, an overall efficiency of ~15%, and a specific output energy of ~40–45 J/g can be made utilizing the specific parameter levels achieved in this work.