Condensation of water vapor in a gasdynamic CO2 laser

A calculation is made of the parameters of a laser mixture flowing out of a planar slit-like nozzle. A system of equations describing the gasdynamics of the flow and the kinetics of the condensation of water vapor from a mixture is solved numerically by the Runge–Kutta method. An estimate is obtained of the influence of condensate droplets on the kinetics of collisional deactivation of the upper laser-active level of the CO₂ molecule. The results obtained are compared with the experimental values of the gain.