COMPUTER-AIDED DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN OF PULSED CO2-LASERS

This paper considers the possibility of optimizing the performance of a pulsed CO2 laser, using the techniques of computer-aided mathematica l simulation of the laser operation. A description is given of the act ive resonator model that was chosen for the CO2 laser simulation. Stea dy-state and nonsteady-state active-resonator problems are analyzed. A calculation algorithm for the nonsteady-state active resonator proble m is proposed for designing wide-aperture lasers with large Fresnel nu mbers. The output characteristics of a pulsed photoionization TEA CO2 laser are analyzed using this algorithm and are compared with experime ntal data. (C) 1998 The Optical Society of America.