Energy characteristics of radiation from a KULON-10 Cu-M self-heated technological laser

The energy characteristics of a KULON-10 Cu-M technological copper vapour laser operating in the regime of high-speed pulsed modulation produced by special current pulses are investigated. The range of time delays of an additional pulse with respect to the main pulse is determined in which the peak power of laser pulses, their energy and duration can be varied. The total all-line peak power of the laser within the total divergence angle achieves 120 kW for the nominal delay. The average and peak powers, energies, and durations of pulses are measured for the individual components of the laser beam with different divergence (down to diffraction-limited). It is shown for the first time that the fraction of the pulse energy corresponding to the weakly diverging component of the laser beam and the laser pulse duration decrease with decreasing the time delay (below the nominal value). The outlook for using KULON lasers for nonlinear radiation frequency conversion is estimated.