5 KW TRANSVERSELY EXCITED ATMOSPHERIC CO2-LASER DRIVEN BY A SOLID-STATE EXCITER EMPLOYING INSULATED GATE BIPOLAR-TRANSISTORS

An average laser output power as high as 5 kW has been produced from a transversely excited atmospheriC CO2 laser pumped with a new solid st ate exciter. The exciter providing a 100 J transfer energy consisted o f a high voltage pulse generator and a two stage magnetic pulse compre ssor. A stack of new high power semiconductor switches, called insulat ed gate bipolar transistors, was employed for the main switch of the p ulse generator. A sophisticated discharge head with the corona preioni zation behind a perforated anode was designed to realize fast and unif orm gas flow in cooperation with acoustic dampers. The maximum average laser power of 4.6 kW was attained at a repetition rate of 550 pps wi th an overall efficiency as high as 10.5%. The maximum repetition Tate achieved was 1.1 kpps, at which the resulting average laser power was 3.4 kW.