One-dimensional modelling of TEA CO2 lasers

One-dimensional modelling was applied to a TEA CO₂ laser whose discharge volume was divided into multiple narrow channels. Each of these channels was regarded as a separate laser channel in which a circuit-coupled kinetic model was employed to compute its discharge formation, and a rate-equation model was used to predict its laser output. Such a one-dimensional model could be employed to study the spatial variation in the transverse discharge—due mainly to a one-sided ultraviolet-preionization and the electrode contour—and its effects on the laser output. Reasonably good agreement was obtained between the one-dimensional model and the experiment, which employed a pair of Ernst profile electrodes.