Refraction of laser radiation by self-interaction waves in CO2 lasers

Numerical modeling method and simultaneous solution of the equations describing vibrational kinetics, hydrodynamics, and laser kinetics are used to study refraction of laser radiation by boundary thermal self-interaction waves in a pulsed electron-beam-controlled CO₂ laser with a telescopic resonator. An analysis is made of the influence of this refraction on the deterioration of the divergence of laser radiation as a function of such parameters as an increase in the resonator length, pulse duration, and composition of the mixture. A calculation is made of the optimal values of the parameters for which the energy emitted in a given solid angle has its maximum value.