3-kW high-beam-quality CW CO2 laser with line tuning and Q-switched pulsing capabilities

The performance of a 3 kW CO 2 transverse flow laser using a self-filtering unstable resonator configuration is presented. The output beam quality is the same as TEM 00 mode stable resonator. The resonator contains nontransmitting optical elements. A facility for Q- switching and line tuning has been developed on the basis of this resonator and the results of preliminary experiments are given.