High-Power Electric CO2 Lasers

This chapter explores the art and science of scaling carbon dioxide (CO₂) lasers to reach ever-increasing power or energy levels. Historically, the CO₂ laser became the first of a new breed of lasers—the molecular gas laser—and it possessed unique attributes that opened up for the first time the possibility of producing extremely high average laser power. The high-power CO₂ laser has evolved to include an unprecedented combination of attributes: nearly unlimited levels of average power scalability, high electrical to optical conversion efficiency, near-diffraction limited beam quality, either CW or high-energy pulse repetition rate modes of operation, compact size, and relatively low cost. Many problems related to high-power operation were anticipated and dealt with by design. Other phenomena, including various kinds of mode–media interaction instabilities were discovered for the first time, which remained unsolved during the tenure of this laser.