Subject matter of the invention is a CO2 laser that permits a rapid power modulation, particularly a highly efficient Q-switching. The key concept is the sub-division of the resonator into a high-power branch, containing inter alia the active medium (1), and a low-power feedback branch (14), in which the power-sensitive beam-shaping elements, particularly the modulators, are arranged. This is made possible by a suitable arrangement of a polarisation beam splitter (5) and a λ/4-phase shifter (2). The free adjustability of an angle &phgr; between said two components permits the extremely flexible realisation of various operating modes, particularly the optimisation of the feedback degree during pulse generation.
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