Short ceramic waveguide CO2-laser amplifier

A study was made of a 4-cm long BeO ceramic discharge tube having a 1×1 mm square-section discharge channel. Measurements were made of the dependences of the gain on the pump intensity and on the gas pressure, for gas mixtures having different compositions and percentage content of CO₂. An analytical expression was obtained for determining the gas temperature which takes into account the pump parameters and the thermal conductivities of the gas mixture and of the tube material.