GLOW AUXILIARY ELECTRICAL-DISCHARGE FOR CW HIGH-POWER CO2-LASERS

A new discharge technique for DC glow auxiliary electrical discharge (GAED) lasers has been developed in order to realize efficient, stable and compact CW transverse-flow high-power CO2 lasers. The auxiliary discharge power source for GAED is common to that of the main discharge. This paper describes the discharge technique and characteristics of GAED. The luminous region of the positive column with auxiliary discharge became wider and more uniform than that without auxiliary discharge. The limited glow discharge power W(g)* (the discharge power for initiating unstable glow discharge) with auxiliary discharge was about 2.2 times that without auxiliary discharge. It was also found that the maximum value of W(g)* was obtained when the CO2 gas mixture ratio was 2-4%.