The present paper reviews our recent work on transient gain phenomena caused by both thermo & gas dynamic cooling mechanism and dissociation of CO
2 molecules in a fast-axial flow (FAF) CO
2 laser amplifier. Taking into account a time-dependent gas temperature
T and an inverted population
n2/
n1, we theoretically formulate a transient gain as functions of the gas-flow velocity ν and the discharge current
Idis including their spatial distributions along the radial direction from the plasma-tube axis to explain the transient power-decrease Δ
P and the transient time tst required to be a stable value with respect to a plasma length
l and an input probe power
Pin Theoretical calculations are in good agreements with, corresponding experimental results. Possibilities for improving the above transient behavior are also demonstrated by cooling a plasma-tube wall and by use of an Au catalyst.
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