Abstract
This paper deals with the characteristics of glow discharge for high power cw CO2 laser excitation. It is found that J/P2 (J: current density, P: gas pressure) on the cathode surface has the constant value of 6.25×10-3 mA/Torr2-cm2 for the Mo cathode. The CO2 dissociation in the gas mixture is dominated by the phenomena near the cathode, since the steady-stage CO2 concentration after discharge closely depends on the kind of cathode materials The discharge gap length gave the effect on the maximum discharge power. The optimum gap length was about 4 cm at the pressure of 100 Torr. For the gap length above 4 cm, type of the silent-discharge assisted glow discharge is recommended.
