Energy characteristics of a waveguide CO2 laser

The composition of the laser active medium is assumed to be constant and the rate equations for the average numbers of vibrational quanta are used to simulate numerically the operation of a waveguide CO₂ laser as a linear amplifier and as an oscillator. These equations allow for the quantum flux (to levels higher than the minimum of the Treanor distribution function of the antisymmetric mode of the CO₂ molecule) which is due to the high degree of vibrational excitation of the laser medium and they also allow for surface deactivation of CO₂ molecules at the inside walls of the waveguide. The calculations are made for two typical diameters of the discharge channel, 1.5 and 2 mm. The results are given in the form of graphs in which the discharge current is an independent variable.