Abstract

Radio-frequency excitation of waveguide CO₂ lasers is proving to be a versatile technique which lends itself readily to a variety of discharge geometries such as longitudinally segmented,¹ transversely pulsed,² and a low-capacitance highly efficient device.³ The relatively short period of time required to develop a long-lived device is particularly impressive.³ In contrast to the conventional dc- excited lasers,⁴ the rf-excited devices have low voltage discharge arrangements and hence tend to be highly rugged by virtue of the diversely employed metallic vacuum envelope.⁵

© 1982 Optical Society of America