Comparative research of multichannel slab and discharge tube CO2 lasers

The laser power and beam quality of the high-power CO(2) laser are very important for laser applications. The multichannel slab discharge CO(2) laser (MSDL) and the multichannel discharge tube CO(2) laser (MDTL) are two main lasers, which have different functions. Two lasers and laser beams are compared and studied quantitatively from the following factors: intensity distribution, M(2) factor, phase locking, misalignment, and output power. It is shown that MSDL could obtain the laser beam with high power when the misaligned angle is small, but the beam quality is poor in comparison with that of MDTL. MSDL is more sensitive to the misaligned angle than MDTL.