Investigation of the Plasma Properties of High Energy Gas Discharge Lasers

摘要

The report summarizes the results of a two-year research investigation directed toward identification and evaluation of the fundamental physical phenomena of importance to the operation of electrically excited CO2 lasers. An analysis of electron kinetics processes was employed to determine electron energy distributions and electron-molecule collision rates in CO2 laser plasmas. This information, when combined with a detail analysis of molecular kinetic processes, permitted calculation of such important CO2 laser properties as small signal gain, saturation intensity, optical power density, and overall laser efficiency for a variety of experimental conditions. Supplementing the analytical protion of the program, detailed measurements were made of plasma and laser properties in a CO2 laser discharge. Comparison of calculated and measured values of small signal gain yielded very good agreement over a range of discharge conditions, thus indicating that the analytical model, developed in connection with this study, accurately represents the features of the important physical phenomena influencing CO2 electric discharge laser performance. A number of major publications resulted from the present research investigation. Reprints of these publications are included in this report as Appendices I through VI. (Author)