Abstract
Experiments on silent discharge CO2 laser are described. The discharge power density of 50 wcm-3 was achieved at a frequency of 100 kHz, and small signal gain and its spacial distribution were measured. Small signal gain of more than 0. 1%cm-1 could be easily obtained under the total pres-sure of 100-300 Torr. The efficicncy of laser excitation by silent discharge was found to be nearly the same as that by D. C. glow discharge.After the gain measurements, an optical resonator was arranged and output power up to280 mW was obtained. This is the first success to use silent discharge for cw CO2 laser.
