In the thirty years since the invention of the CO2 gas laser, the major design issue has shifted from how to obtain the desired power level to how to achieve reliable operation. At the same time, the opening of many laser development facilities in the Former Soviet Union has allowed their achievements and design approaches to be understood and appreciated for the first time. Further, the industrial laser user community has identified a number of emerging applications at higher power levels (15-20 kW) than are attainable by most commercial devices. In High Power Lasers - Science and Engineering, the designers, developers and users of high-power gas laser systems discuss design approaches, methods of enhancing performance, new applications, and user requirements.

In the thirty years since the invention of the CO2 gas laser, the major design issue has shifted from how to obtain the desired power level to how to achieve reliable operation. At the same time, the opening of many laser development facilities in the Former Soviet Union has allowed their achievements and design approaches to be understood and appreciated for the first time. Further, the industrial laser user community has identified a number of emerging applications at higher power levels (15-20 kW) than are attainable by most commercial devices. In High Power Lasers - Science and Engineering, the designers, developers and users of high-power gas laser systems discuss design approaches, methods of enhancing performance, new applications, and user requirements.

Lasers with a gaseous active medium offer high flexibility, wide tunability, and advantages in cost, beam quality, and power scalability. Gas lasers have tended to become overshadowed by the recent popularity and proliferation of semiconductor lasers. As a result of this shift in focus, details on modern developments in gas lasers are difficult to find. In addition, different types of gas lasers have unique properties that are not well-described in other references. Collecting expert contributions from authorities dealing with specific types of lasers, Gas Lasers examines the fundamentals, current research, and applications of this important class of laser. It is important to understand all types of lasers, from solid-state to gaseous, before making a decision for any application. This book fills in the gaps by discussing the definition and properties of gaseous media along with its fluid dynamics, electric excitation circuits, and optical resonators. From this foundation, the discussion launches into the basic physics, characteristics, applications, and current research efforts for specific types of gas lasers: CO lasers, CO2 lasers, HF/DF lasers, excimer lasers, iodine lasers, and metal vapor lasers. The final chapter discusses miscellaneous lasers not covered in the previous chapters. Collecting hard-to-find material into a single, convenient source, Gas Lasers offers an encyclopedic survey that helps you approach new applications with a more complete inventory of laser options.