At Laser Systems Engineering Section, we have developed different model giving average power from 20 watts to 55 watts. Typical operating frequency of these lasers is 5 - 6 kHz. Operating temperature of these lasers is 1500-1600 oC. These lasers are discharge heated and flowing gas system. Wall plug efficiency is about 1%. Following four models have been standardized and supplied to different users.
- CVL20 giving 20 watts of average laser power.
- CVL30 giving 30 watts of average laser power.
- CVL40 giving 40 watts of average laser power.
- CVL55 giving 55 watts of average laser power.
Mechanical construction of these lasers are similar. The plasma tube of alumina (Al2O3) is placed co-axially in a glass pipe. Annular space between glass and ceramic tube is filled with alumina fiber, a heat insulating material. This assembly is placed co-axially in a water cooled stainless steel jacket. At both the ends, water cooled stainless steel electrodes are coupled to the glass pipe using "Viton" material 'O' ring. In all the lasers, plasma tube is of 1500 mm length.
The excitation of laser is by switching pre-determined stored energy on a storage capacitor bank to a capacitor mounted on the laser head using gas filled Thyratron or IGBT switch followed by magnetic pulse compression. The switching is done at 5-9 kHz.
Copper Vapour Laser (CVL) is an inherently a pulsed laser system. It gives output at 511nm(green) and 578nm(yellow). The lasing medium is copper vapour and is generated by heat deposited in an alumina tube by electrical discharge. The electric discharge pulse is also used to generate population inversion in the lasing medium. Copper Vapour lasers have many applications in areas like micro-machining, pumping of tunable dye lasers, medical use, etc.
Technology challenges in CVL development: Copper vapour laser requires multidisciplinary expertise particularly in following areas.
