Abstract
A new family of high-power industrial CO2 lasers based on the fast axial flow concept is under development. Our main goal is to achieve very high optical beam quality and physical separability of a relatively light laser head from the heavy and noisy gas handling device. The longitudinal design is known to provide a flat optical gain across the optical axis which couples nicely with high-magnification unstable cavities. Progress in our understanding of the stabilization mechanism provided by aerodynamic turbulences1 in large-volume dc electrical discharge makes it feasible to reach high efficiency in fast axial design at input power densities as high as 4 kW/liter.
© 1986 Optical Society of America
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