Abstract

Considerable attention has been given in recent years to the potential for medical and light industrial applications based upon the use of carbon monoxide lasers. Significant progress has been made in the development of CO laser sources to address these applications, both in terms of diffusion-cooled devices¹ and kilowatt scale lasers employing convective flow techniques,³ In addition, one of the advantages often claimed for the use of the 5-6-μm spectral region over the more commonly used carbon dioxide laser technology at 10 μm is the suggestion that effective laser power delivery, using optical fibres, will be easier to accomplish at the lower wavelength. In this paper, we describe advances in both diffusion-cooled and fast flow CO laser technology, as well as a comparison of the characteristics of hollow and solid core optical fibers as the basis for the design of 5-μm laser systems.

© 1994 Optical Society of America