Self-pulsing by discharge relaxation oscillation in the CO2waveguide laser

A periodic pulsed output from a CO
2
waveguide laser caused by relaxation oscillations in the excitation circuit is reported. The resulting laser output has a peak power of 16 W and 100-ns duration with very good amplitude stability. The possibility of gain switching is postulated and outputs of the laser under CW and
Q
-switched operation are compared.