High peak power gas lasers

The development of transversely excited atmospheric pressure (TEA) CO2Lasers has led to the generation of multimegawatt laser pulses at 10.6 µm in simple laboratory prototypes. A discussion of the basic properties of these lasers is followed by the description of a number of different techniques that have been used to provide effective transverse excitation of lasers at low repetition rates. The basic technique used to increase the repetition rates to 1000 pulses per second (PPS) is described. Considering the simplicity of the technique and its low cost, it appears that in the not too distant future, pulse energies in the kilojoule region and pulse lengths of the order of one nanosecond will be practical.