Investigation of the energy parameters of the active medium of electric-discharge closed-cycle CO2 lasers by the method absorption and emission of CO2 in the 4.3 μm range

The absorption and emission of the CO₂ molecule in the 4.3 μm range was used to study experimentally the dependences of the specific stored vibrational energy, the specific output energy, the maximum output power, and the gain on the input energy, pressure, and CO₂ concentration in an N₂–He–CO₂–O₂ mixture excited by a self-sustained glow discharge. The distribution of these parameters over the length of the discharge chamber of a continuous-flow commercial CO₂ laser was also studied. A comparison was made between experimental values of the vibrational and translational temperatures and theoretical values determined from the gasdynamic and vibrational kinetics equations using measured electrical characteristics of the discharge. The influence of the unexcited layers of the active mixture on the parameters of the active medium was investigated.