A Novel Q‐switched CO 2 Laser and its Applications

Abstract

For the efficient treatment of a broad variety of materials, pulsed CO 2 laser radiation is well‐suited. But nevertheless, CO 2 lasers are well established in industrial processes, a significant disadvantage of all previously basicavailable commercial systems, which are suitable for material processing, is their restricted pulsability. This is not caused by the amplification properties of the active medium, but by the wavelength of about 10 μm. In this region the spectrum of optical materials, which can be used for modulation, especially Q‐switching, is rather limited. In principle for acousto‐optic modulation only Ge and for electro‐optic modulation only CdTe are suitable materials. But both semiconductors are relatively power‐sensitive and therefore Q‐switching of conventional CO 2 lasers is typically limited to less than 100 W of average power. This problem can be solved by the new resonator concept described below [1]. The aim is the optimum transformation of the potentially available power (cw up to the kW range) into average power of the pulsed radiation.