INFLUENCE OF A RADIAL INHOMOGENEITY OF TH E ACTIVE MEDIUM ON THE OUTPUT RADIATION POWER FROM A CW CO2-LASER WITH FAST AXIAL-FLOW

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of a radial inho mogeneity of the gain in a cw CO2 laser with fast axial flow. The resu lts showed that this inhomogeneity was the result of a radial inhomoge neity of the temperature and of contraction of a longitudinal self-sus tained discharge towards the axial region in a gas-discharge tube. Thi s caused saturation of the rise of the small-signal gain when the tota l discharge current was increased. It also reduced the rate of rise of the output radiation power with increase in the input energy when the fundamental Gaussian mode was generated.