Possibility of increasing the efficiency of sealed carbon monoxide lasers

The results are given of an investigation into the possibility of increasing the efficiency of sealed watercooled CO lasers by reducing the overall losses of the optical resonator. The experimentally obtained efficiency of a laser oscillator was 18–20% at an output power of about 32 W. A study was made of the influence of the discharge-tube wall temperature on the efficiency and on the power emitted per unit length. On varying the temperature of the cooling liquid from 40 to 1°C the laser efficiency rose from 8.5 to 18%, and the power per unit length from 13 to 31 W/m. The maximum laser output power was 38.5 W. The possibility of a further increase in the efficiency of sealed CO lasers is briefly discussed.