CO2 laser performance with a distributed gold catalyst
Abstract
The performance of a CO2 laser was improved by coating the inside wall of the discharge tube with a discontinuous gold film. In the presence of the discharge, the gold acts as an ambient temperature catalyst to reform decomposed CO2. The gold coated laser delivered 122 W/m for both sealed-off and flowing operation. CO2 decomposition levels are presented as a function of input power, gas pressure, and temperature. Atomic oxygen, generated by the discharge, appears to be required for gold to exhibit any detectable catalytic activity.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
- Pub Date:
- July 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1109/3.29314
- Bibcode:
- 1989IJQE...25.1695M
- Keywords:
-
- Carbon Dioxide Lasers;
- Catalysts;
- Dissociation;
- Gold;
- Laser Outputs;
- Metal Films;
- Performance;
- Platinum;
- Sputtering;
- Stoichiometry;
- Lasers and Masers