Power calculations for high-flow CO electric discharge laser systems

A self-consistent model for high-flow electric discharge CO laser systems with coincident optical and flow axes is presented. The model employed couples the kinetics of the electrons and heavy particles with the optical and fluid dynamic processes in the laser system. The resulting integro-differential system of equations governing this multi-level system was solved by an exact numerical scheme. The effects of power input, composition, total mass flow rate and inlet pressure and temperature on the intensities and total power output were investigated. The results indicate that for a given input power and N2 fraction, the efficiency increases by reducing the inlet temperature and increasing the velocity and/or the fraction of CO. Moreover, transitions on the lower vibrational bands can be obtained at the expense of lower efficiencies by reducing the CO fraction.