A new type of compact TEA laser, which has a ladder-type pre-ionization discharge circuit and a special low inductance circuit for laser gas pumping discharge, are developed. Uniform glow discharge input up to 265 J/
l•atm is achieved within a volume of 2×2×60 cm for an arbitrary laser gas mixture and even for pure CO
2 gas.
Maximum laser power 10MW is obtained for the mixture ratio of CO
2:N
2:He=2:1:4. Saturation energy of 400 mJ/cm
2 are obtained for a 70 nsec normal Q-swiched pulse with a low-power tail of 1μsec, and 35 mJ/cm
2 for a 2 nsec single pulse. Output laser energy is improved about 30% using tri-n-propylamine as a low-ionization seed gas. A maximum output energy of 21J/
l•atm is achieved.
Steady stable operation of up to 40, 000 shots in 1_??_2 pps has been obtained.
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