A miniature tunable TEA CO₂ laser using isotope ¹³C¹⁶O₂ and ¹²C¹⁶O ₂

A miniature tunable TEA CO₂ laser using isotope ¹³C¹⁶O₂ as the active medium is developed to extend the spectral range of CO₂ lasers for further application. The optimization of the energy parameters of the tunable TEA ¹³C ¹⁶O₂ laser and the same laser using ¹²C ¹⁶O₂ are studied. When a gas mixture (¹³C ¹⁶O₂: N₂: He = 1: 1: 3) at a total pressure of 6.4 × 10⁴ Pa is used, the TEA ¹³C¹⁶O ₂ laser of a 45-cm³ active volume obtains 51 emission lines in the [00⁰1-10⁰0] and [00⁰1-02 ⁰0] bands. The maximum pulse energy of the TEA ¹³C ¹⁶O₂ laser is about 357 mJ. The same laser using the conventional gas mixture (¹²C¹⁶O₂: N ₂: He = 1: 1: 3) at a pressure of 6.66 × 10⁴ Pa is measured to obtain 69 laser emission lines and the maximum pulse energy of laser radiation is about 409 mJ.