RF-excited slab CO<formula><roman>2</roman></formula>laser with intracavity mode selection

The paper presents the new concept for radiation mode selection, based on the spatial filter system, which disposed onthe electrode surface of slab CO2 laser. The results of the computer simulation and the experiment are discussed.Keywords: slab laser, intra-cavity mode selection. 1. INTRODUCTION Conventional RF-excited CO2 laser includes a pair of elongated metal electrodes, which planar surfaces are polished and highly reflectant. Two electrodes both reflect and guide the laser radiation along the slab-coordinate Along the wide-coordinate the beam propagates as in free space [1]. There are a few reasons to arise the higher ordermodes of radiation in slab laser. The main reason is an inadequate matching of the radiation wave front with the mirrorcurvature. As known, the discharge gap butt-end selects the mode structure [2]. The paper considers the method of thespatial filtration of the mode structure inside the resonator cavity of the slab laser [3]. 2. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONAND EXPERIMENTS.