Similarity and scaling in diffusion-cooled RF-excited carbon dioxide lasers

The theoretical and experimental study of alpha RF discharges presented in this paper has resulted in the formulation of a set of similarity and scaling laws for diffusion-cooled alpha RF discharge-excited CW waveguide CO/sub 2/ lasers. For the first time, the parametric dependencies of the voltage-current-power characteristics of a transverse alpha RF discharge have been investigated over a range of excitation frequencies 100-160 MHz, for gas pressures 40-100 torr and for interelectrode distances 1-3 mm in a typical waveguide CO/sub 2/ laser gas mixture (He:N/sub 2/Co/sub 2/=3:1:1+5 percent Xe). Relative to dc discharges, the additional scaling law fD=constant is established, and the analysis indicates both high- and low-frequency limits to the operation of practical self-similar laser devices.<
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