Stabilization of the energy characteristics of a cw technological electron-beam-controlled CO2 laser by means of silica gel

A promising method is suggested for regeneration of the active mixture of high-power technological electron-beam-controlled CO2 lasers by adsorption on silica gel of nitrogen oxide impurities formed during an electron-beam-controlled discharge. It is reported that the use of silica gel makes it possible to stabilize the energy characteristics of lasers of this kind more effectively than by catalytic regeneration and this can be achieved at the expense of considerably lower (by more than one order of magnitude) energy losses.