Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of a slab waveguide CO2 laser with rf pumping

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of the active-medium gain and of the parameters of the radiation emitted by an rf-pumped slab CO₂ laser. The average output power was 160 W and the efficiency was 10%. Near-diffraction-limited divergence was achieved. In the pulse-periodic regime, the pulse power was twice the average power in the cw regime. When external correcting optics was used, the total divergence of the laser radiation was 2 — 3 mrad at 0.8 of the total power. A suite of programs for numerical simulation of the physical processes in an rf-pumped slab CO₂ laser with diffusion cooling was developed. The experimental and theoretical results were compared.