High pressure CO2 amplifiers for picosecond pulse amplification

A high-pressure CO2 laser with large discharge x-section of 22×22 mm and gain length of 800 mm has been developed for use as regenerative or multi-pass amplifier in high energy ps laser systems. A test system with reduced electrode length was constructed to establish initial design parameters for the full-size system. The design of the final amplifier is described, and measured performance characteristics are presented. The system can be operated at gas pressures of up to 12 bar and provides stable discharges with a small signal gain of >3 %/cm. Further scaling of the laser to x-sections of up to 50×100 mm will be discussed and preliminary results of a discharge test system for development of novel discharge excitation techniques will be presented.