Atmospheric thermal lens induced by high-power CO/sub 2/ laser beams in laser materials processing

The atmospheric thermal lens induced by high-power CO/sub 2/ laser beams in laser materials processing and its influence on beam propagation and focus are studied in this paper. It is found in experiments that the atmospheric thermal lens is generated when the air in the beam propagation path is stationary. But it can be eliminated by blowing air with a certain pressure into the beam's guidance system. Also, the behavior of the beam's propagation under the case of the thermal lens deviates from Gaussian theory. This deviation is calculated by the linear and nonlinear models of the atmospheric thermal lens under the conditions of a large beam diameter and high power intensity. In addition, the influence of the thermal lens on the beam's focus size and position is also discussed in this paper.