Two-stage TEA CO2 laser oscillator

The paper reports on a parametric study of a TEA CO2 laser consisting of two Lambertson-Pearson stages with an addition of xylene vapors to the active CO2-N2-He mixture. Each spark discharge chamber contained three electrodes. Curves were obtained showing laser output as a function of discharge voltage, CO2 pressure, and input energy. Laser output increased monotonically with discharge voltage. This growth, which is approximately linear for small voltages, shows the tendency to saturate at high voltages. Maximum energy of 5.6 J was recorded for a 1:1:4 mixture at a discharge voltage of 65 kV. Maximum efficiency was obtained for a value of the ratio of CO2 pressure to total pressure of about 0.166, corresponding to a 1:1:4 mixture.