Application of a distributed gold catalyst to increase the output power and efficiency of a sealed off CO2 laser pumped by a transverse rf discharge in tubes

It is shown experimentally that a transverse rf discharge in tubes has a higher plasmachemical activity than a dc discharge, which deteriorates the parameters of rf discharge-pumped CO₂ lasers. The output power and efficiency of a sealed off CO₂ laser were substantially increased by using a distributed gold catalyst facilitating CO₂ regeneration. The output power of 0.77 W cm^-1 per unit length of an active medium with efficiency of 18.5% was obtained in an experimental CO₂ laser with tubes with a distributed gold catalyst pumped by a 27.1 MHz rf discharge.