Influence of acoustic waves on TEA CO2 laser performance

Abstract

In this paper the author’s present results on the influence of acoustic waves on the output laser beam from high repetition rate TEA CO2 lasers. The authors show that acoustic waves generated inside the cavity lead to deterioration in beam quality, decreased output energy, and an increase in pulse to pulse energy variation. The authors investigate the impact of gas mix on the acoustic behaviour, and present experimental results on laser performance across a range of gas mixtures. Solutions to the acoustic wave problem are presented together with experimental results. The influence of acoustic damping measures on laser gain are demonstrated showing a significant improvement in gain and output power at high repetition rates. The link between the pre-ionisation method employed and the acoustic wave impact on laser performance is discussed.