Spectroscopic study of a TEA CO2 laser of the CO2/X,X=H2; N2/H2 type

The spectral output of a TEA CO₂ laser utilizing nonconventional CO₂/H₂ and CO₂/N₂/H₂ gas mixtures was analysed. A simultaneous multiline output in P-branch of the 00°110°0 transition was recorded. A domination of the P(18) line is typical for the first, and that of the P(20) line for the second gas mixture. The enhancement of the P(18) line intensity in spectra (different from P(20) line domination-CO₂/N₂/H₂ mixture) is explained primarily by a smaller contribution of the R(23) line gain (01¹111¹0 CO₂ band), to P(20) line (00°110°0 band). All measurements were conducted with a nondispersive optical cavity.     

Pulse stretching with CO in a tea CO2 laser

By the addition of CO in conjunction with a high Q cavity, a TEA CO₂ laser has been operated to give pulses with durations up to 150 μs. Preliminary investigations of the dependence of delay to initiation, pulse energy and duration, on gas mixture, charging voltage and output mirror reflectivity are described.     

Numerical solution of Boltzmann tranport equation for TEA CO2 laser having nitrogen-lean gas mixtures to predict laser characteristics and gas lifetime

Selective laser isotope separation by TEA CO₂ laser often needs short tail-free pulses. Using laser mixtures having very little nitrogen almost tail free laser pulses can be generated. The laser pulse characteristics and its gas lifetime is an important issue for long-term laser operation. Boltzmann transport equation is therefore solved numerically for TEA CO₂ laser gas mixtures having very little nitrogen to predict electron energy distribution function (EEDF). The distribution function is used to calculate various excitation and dissociation rate of CO₂ to predict laser pulse characteristics and laser gas lifetime, respectively.Laser rate equations have been solved with the calculated excitation rates for numerically evaluated discharge current and voltage profiles to calculate laser pulse shape. The calculated laser pulse shape and duration are in good agreement with the measured laser characteristics. The gas lifetime is estimated by integrating the equation governing the dissociation of CO₂. An experimental study of gas lifetime was carried out using quadrapole mass analyzer for such mixtures to estimate the O₂ being produced due to dissociation of CO₂ in the pulse discharge. The theoretically calculated O₂ concentration in the laser gas mixture matches with experimentally observed value. In the present TEA CO₂ laser system, for stable discharge the O₂ concentration should be below 0.2%.     

A novel double-pulse laser plasma spectroscopic technique for H analysis in metal samples utilizing transversely excited atmospheric-pressure CO2 laser-induced metastable He atoms

The analysis of hydrogen in a metal sample (zircaloy-4), which is usually difficult to perform using conventional laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) techniques, has been achieved using a double-pulse technique under He gas at atmospheric pressure. In this technique, a transversely excited atmospheric-pressure (TEA) CO₂ laser (1.5 J, 200 ns) was focused onto the metal surface to induce a strong He gas plasma whilst simultaneously focussing a Nd-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser (120 mJ, 8 ns), synchronized with the TEA CO2 laser, onto the metal to ablate atoms into the resulting He gas plasma. The emission spectrum obtained shows a narrow H linewidth with low background intensity and long lifetime emission, thereby indicating that excitation takes place via metastable He atoms. The H emission from H₂O can be suppressed by a careful pretreatment involving heating the sample in a vacuum chamber.     

A 10 cm aperture,high quality TEA CO2 laser

Experiments have been performed on a corona preionization type 10 cm aperture TEA CO₂ laser. For a CO₂:N₂:He=1: 1: 7: mixture an output energy of 34 joule per liter and for a 1 : 1 : 10 mixture 40 joule per liter could be obtained. The overall efficiency is about 18%. The time behaviour of the current and voltage of the system shows a delay of several hundreds of nanoseconds after the preionization peak, which indicates a relatively low initial electron-density level. Neverthe less, it proved to be high enough to obtain a very homogeneous discharge and reproducible output energy.     

X-ray preionized CO2 laser

A short pulse (100 ns) high-energy x-ray source has been used to preionize a transversely excited carbon dioxide gas discharge laser of 600 cm³ active volume. The maximum output power of 60 MW in a 50 ns FWHM pulse was achieved from a CO₂–N₂–He–CO–Xe static gas mixture at 600 Torr pressure. The energy conversion efficiency was 6%.     

Design and operation characteristics of a high power transverse flow pulser sustained cw CO2 laser

A transverse flow, transverse discharge cw CO₂ laser in which de discharge is sustained by employing high repetition rate high voltage pulses has been developed. Pulser sustained discharge through electrodes of innovative design provided uniform excitation at electrical input power densities more than 10 W/cc. Laser output power more than 2.5 kW was obtained in a laser gas mixture consisting of 0.5 mbar of CO₂, 16 mbar of N₂ and 38.5 mbar of He. Design details and operational characteristics of this laser are presented.     

Preionization of TEA CO2 laser by sliding discharge

TEA CO₂ laser preionization by plasma sheet formed by discharge sliding over a dielectric surface is described. The preionization electron number density in order of 10⁹cm^–3 was measured in the CO₂ N₂ He=113 gas mixture. The plasma sheet was also tested as a main discharge electrode in TEA CO₂ laser.The authors would like to acknowledge with thanks the current interest and the help of P. Gavrilov and V. Krajíek in experiments.     

AC-chopper application for CW CO2 laser

A microprocessor-based algorithm was developed to control the power supply to a CO₂ laser using an AC-chopper method. This system was connected directly to a CO₂ laser tube without the need for a dc-dc converter or the storage capacitance of a multilevel circuit. The typical CO₂ laser power supply system had a full-bridge series resonant inverter or voltage multiplier. AC-to-AC converter schemes using zero voltage switching (ZVS) can be used efficiently and economically for low and medium power applications.This paper reports the performance characteristics of a symmetrical AC-chopper technology that can maintain the quality of the ac output of a CO₂ laser tube, regardless of the amount of switching loss. The laser was operated to an output power, maximum system efficiency total gas mixture of 37.2 W, 92%, and CO₂:N₂:He=1:9:15, respectively. The laser system, AC-chopper power supply and its operation were examined.     

Effect of He and N2 on pulsed operation of CO2 lasers

Addition of He to a CO₂ laser quenched much the saturation effect of the pulsed output to increase its pulse width and its peak power. It was also newly found that the discharge current of a CO₂:N₂ mixture was suppressed to give rise to laser emission only during its suppressed period.     

Sulfur isotope enrichment in SF6 by high intensity CO2 laser radiation

Enrichment of ³⁴SF₆ following irradiation of SF₆?H₂ mixtures by the focused output of a pulsed TEA CO₂ laser has been studied as a function of the number of laser pulses, excitation wavelength, total pressure, and laser energy.     

Numerical modeling of a fast-axial-flow CW–CO2 laser

A four-temperature model has been applied on a fast axial flow, longitudinal discharge CO₂ laser. Using Runge–Kutta method, a set of differential equations of the model is numericaly solved. These equations describe the operation of the laser with certain ratio 1:3:6 of the mixture CO₂:N₂: He and average output power of 550 W.The temporal behaviour of the output power and photon density was obtained. The effects of kinetic temperature, coupled mirror reflectivity, gas flow speed, and cavity loss on the output power were studied.Calculated output power was compared with its measured value taken from experiment and a good agreement was observed.     

Theoretical analysis of the multi-rotational line TEA CO2 laser

A theoretical model for the multiline TEA CO₂ laser has been developed which takes into account the overlap of the P(20) line of (00⁰1) (10⁰0) regular band transition with the R(23) line of (01¹1) (11¹0) hot band transition. The model is used for the study of the influence of different parameters like laser gas temperature, gas mixture and pump rates on laser intensities of different rotational lines. This study explains the experimental results of the high power multiline TEA CO₂ laser very well.     

Theoretical study of hybrid TEA–CO2 lasers

Temporal and spatial analysis of dynamics of hybrid transversely excited atmospheric pressure (TEA)–CO₂ lasers is studied using two different models with four and eight energy levels. These models are used for simulation of the laser and computing the output energy. Effects of several parameters such as input energies and gas mixture concentrations (especially presence of CO molecules) are also studied.     

Theoretical and experimental study of V–I characteristics of UV pre-ionized TEA CO2 laser for variety of laser gas mixtures

Experimental and theoretical study of V–I characteristics of UV pre-ionized TEA CO₂ laser has been carried out for a variety of gas mixtures emitting different optical pulse shapes suitable for various applications. Coupled differential equations have been solved to model the pulse excitation circuit using the numerically calculated values of ionization coefficient (α), attachment coefficient (β) and drift velocity (U_d) as functions of E/N (i.e. electric field to neutral particle density ratio) for chosen gas mixture. Calculated and experimental V–I characteristics for gas mixtures (CO₂:N₂:He::1:2:3, 1:1:4, 1:1:5 and 1:0:4.7) show a good agreement. It has been shown that gas mixture has a dominant effect on the delay between pre-ionization and main discharge; thus, determining the long-term stability of discharge. The excitation pulse duration increases with increase in molecular content of gas mixture (i.e. amount of CO₂ and N₂ in gas mixture).     

HF-laser performance of CO2-laser-ignited mixtures of SF6 :H2 and of S2F10 :H2

We have used a CO₂ laser to ignite mixtures of SF₆ :H₂ and S₂F₁₀ :H₂. We observed HF lasing from these mixtures when an optical resonator was constructed around the reaction cell. The HF-lasing performance of the two mixtures was compared as a function of mixture ratio, fluorine-donor pressure, and CO₂-laser frequency. Under comparable conditions, the HF-laser output for S₂F₁₀ :H₂ mixtures was typically 5–6 times greater than that for SF₆ :H₂ mixtures. Spectral output of the HF laser was coarsely resolved to provide data about the vibrational and rotational states of the HF molecule.     

Prediction of the thermal properties of CO2, CO, and Xe laser media

Approximation functions describing the experimental data of thermal conductivity and viscosity of chosen gases (CO₂, N₂, He, Xe, CO, O₂, Ar) are given in the paper. Introduced formulas allow to predict thermal conductivity and temperature distribution of typical high-power laser gas mixture. Examples of temperature distribution in RF excited CO₂, CO, and Xe laser media are shown. Knowledge of the temperature distribution in the laser cavity can be useful for predicting the general properties of laser.     

Arc-discharge monitoring system of a high-power repetitively-pulsed TEA CO2 laser

High-power repetitively-pulsed TEA CO₂ lasers are excited by a glow discharge, and it turns out to be the arc discharge under some conditions. The arc-discharge is a disadvantageous condition and must be avoided. According to the Faraday electromagnetism induction principle, the arc-discharge monitoring system with a magnetic-field probe is designed for high-power repetitively-pulsed TEA CO₂ lasers. The magnetic-field variation induced by the discharge current can be tested, and the discharge state can be distinguished according to the output induction voltage. Experimental results show that the magnetic-field induction voltages generated by a glow discharge and an arc discharge are very different ones. The maximum induction voltage of the glow discharge is 2.0?V, while the minimum induction voltage of the arc discharge is 2.5?C4?V. Three alarm levels are set by measuring the arc-discharge intensities. At the first level, automatic filling?Cexhausting equipment starts to refresh the gas media, at the second level, the laser repetition rate is reduced, and at the third level the laser operation stops immediately. As a result, the working reliability of a high-power repetitively-pulsed TEA CO₂ laser system can be improved significantly by using the arc-discharge monitoring system.     

Optimization of gas pressures ratio in a fast-axial-flow CO2 laser with genetic algorithm

In this paper, the laser output power of a fast-axial flow CO₂ laser was optimized with gas pressures ratio of CO₂:N₂:He using a genetic algorithm technique. The power of laser was increased from 500 W (un-optimized case) to 2200 W (simulated case), also experimentally the power has achieved the value of 700 W (optimized case).     

Scaling and performance of CO2 lasers at supra-atmospheric pressure

The performance of a compact uv photo-preionized TE laser is studied in the pressure range 1–5 bar. As the pressure is increased, the laser pulse shape is little altered, but both the peak power and the total output pulse energy increase significantly with pressure, even for constant input electrical energy. For various gas mixtures and excitation source capacitors the measurements suggest approximate output energy scaling with the product of the source charge per unit electrode area [C.m^–2] and the molecular partial pressure [CO₂+N₂+CO]. This is explained in terms of the pressure-dependent discharge impedance. An input-energy-related discharge instability limits the optimum laser pressure to 1.5–2.5 bar, and we show that, at constant input energy, the instability boundary depends on the molecular partial pressure alone. The pre-ionization photo-electron yield varies negligibly with pressure, but the discharge tolerance to added oxygen decreases asp ^–3 top ^–4, dependent on gas mixture. Nevertheless sealed operation for >10⁵ shots has been obtained with a 5% CO₂5% CO3% N₂2% H₂85% He gas mixture at a total pressure of 5 bar.