Waveguide coaxial rf-excited CO2 laser

An investigation was made of the characteristics of a cw rf-excited CO₂ laser with a diffusively cooled active mixture and a resonator formed from a coaxial waveguide with two plane reflectors. An output power of 14 W was obtained with an efficiency of 3.3%. The possibilities of simultaneously increasing the laser output power, efficiency, and frequency tuning range are discussed.