Abstract

After 30 years of development carbon dioxide has become the laser of choice for industrial applications because of its high gain and effectiveness in cutting and welding applications. Recently several attempts have been made to excite Co₂ lasers using microwaves at 2.45 GHz, a frequency chosen because of the availability of magnetrons made for microwave ovens. Initial attempts at microwave excitation used geometries similar to those used in DC lasers where the gas is contained in a Pyrex or quartz tube. However, this style of laser suffers from cooling problems which restrict the output power. Recent attempts have used the slab configuration which diffusively cools the gas while others have opted for fast axial flow to keep gas temperatures low.

© 1996 Optical Society of America