Experimental investigation of CO2 laser assisted by silent discharge

A new type of CO2 laser tube has been designed by using a plasma tube having rectangular cross section and is excited by both axial DC glow discharge and transverse high frequency (HF) silent discharge. In this paper, the principle of the design is described briefly and its working characteristics, including of breakdown, V-A, laser power and efficiency, are studied experimentally and compared with those of CO2 laser excited by DC glow discharge only. Under the action of transverse HF silent discharge, the laser power, the laser efficiency, the gas-filled pressure and the fraction of N-2 in this laser are increased significantly. In contrast, the breakdown voltage and the discharge voltage of this laser tube are decreased.