Development of a 1Â J short pulse tunable TEA CO2 laser with high energy stability

The design, development and operational characteristics of a 1 J, repetitively pulsed, line tunable TEA CO2 laser producing nearly tail free short pulses (~170 ns) suitable for laser isotope separation is discussed. Tail free short laser pulses were generated by employing a nitrogen lean gaseous active medium. Use of an indigenously developed stable pulsed power supply, uniform and intense UV spark pre-ionization and optimum gas purging with catalytic regeneration to control the deleterious oxygen accumulation helps generate laser pulses with high energy stability. Integration of a sensitive arc detection system allows long term arc-free operation of the laser and protects it from catastrophic failure. Laser pulses in more than 90 lines in 10.6 µm and 9.6 µm bands of CO2 laser spectrum with energy about 1 J in as many as 50 lines could be generated with a typical efficiency of about 4%. A typical pulse to pulse energy stability of ±1.4% was obtained during one hour of continuous operation of the TEA CO2 laser at 75 Hz.