Radiation power control of the industrial CO2 lasers excited by a nonself-sustained glow discharge with regard to dissociation in a working gas mixture

The action of a working gas mixture degradation related to the plasma chemical reactions in a glow discharge on the laser output power of the molecular laser excited by a nonself-sustained glow discharge has been studied by the example of an industrial laser of “Lantan” CO2 laser series. It was found that the laser power overshoot when operating on a fresh gas mixture may exceed 3 times power level set in a steady-state regime. The working algorithm for the control system was proposed and developed setting standard fresh CO2/N2/He laser gas mixture to plasma chemical equilibrium composition during the laser turn-on procedure after full refill of a working gas mixture.