Blackbody-pumped CO2 lasers using Gaussian and waveguide cavities

摘要

Abstract: A large scale pulsed laser system with heated tantalum foils as the blackbody pumping source was built in the laboratory. A deeper understanding of the effects of pumping configurations and laser modes on the blackbody pumped CO$-2$/ laser has been achieved through parametric studies using this system. Theoretical analysis and experimental investigation show the feasibility of a slab pumping scheme which may be applied to large scale transverse flow laser systems. The use of an 8 mm tube with waveguide quality enables generation of both gaussian and waveguide modes in the same structure with different optics setup. The experiment demonstrates that high waveguide cavity losses can be prevented with large bore structure ($GRT 4 mm) and the advantage of better filling of the laser gain region by waveguide modes is clearly observed. The size scaling studies also indicate that there are similarity relations of the optimum laser parameters between different sizes of tube in optically pumped gas lasers.!