(CO2 laser) is a gas laser using CO2 gas as the working substance. The discharge tube is usually made of glass or quartz material, filled with CO2 gas and other auxiliary gases (mainly helium and nitrogen, usually with a small amount of hydrogen or xenon); The electrode is generally a nickel hollow cylinder; One end of the resonator is a gold plated total mirror, and the other end is a partial mirror made of germanium or gallium arsenide. When a high voltage is applied to the electrode (usually DC or low-frequency AC), a glow discharge is generated in the discharge tube, and there is a laser output at one end of the germanium mirror, with a wavelength in the mid infrared region near 10.6 microns; Generally better pipes. A continuous output power of 40 to 60 watts can be obtained from a discharge area about one meter long.
Knowledge of the functions and structures of carbon dioxide lasers (CO2 laser tubes)
Carbon dioxide laser is a relatively important gas laser. This is because it has some prominent advantages:
1. It utilizes transitions between vibrational and rotational energy levels of CO2 molecules, with relatively rich spectral lines, and a laser output of dozens of spectral lines near 10 microns. The high pressure CO2 laser discovered in recent years can even achieve continuously tunable output from 9 to 10 microns;
Its output wavelength is just the atmospheric window (that is, the atmosphere has a high transparency for this wavelength); In addition, it also has the advantages of high optical quality, good coherence, narrow line width, and stable operation of the output beam. Therefore, it has many applications in the national economy and national defense, such as applications in processing (welding, cutting, drilling, etc.), communications, radar, chemical analysis, laser induced chemical reactions, surgery, and other aspects.
It has relatively large power and relatively high energy conversion efficiency. A typical closed tube CO2 laser can have a continuous output power of tens of watts, which is far superior to other gas lasers. A transversely flowing electrically excited CO2 laser can have a continuous output of several hundred thousand watts. In addition, the energy and power output from a transverse atmospheric pressure CO2 laser have also reached a high level, comparable to that of a solid-state laser. The energy conversion efficiency of CO2 lasers can reach 30 to 40%, which is also higher than that of ordinary gas lasers.