Laser

Carbon Dioxide Laser ( CO_2 ) is a molecular gas discharge laser.In this laser the transition take place between vibrational levels.These lasers having high efficiency ,operational both in continous wave and pulsed mode are known for high power generation.Yhis stimulates the improvement of modern CO_2 lasers and construction of new one's to increase the power and brightness of the radiation and to improve their economical and constructional characteristics.In recent year a much attention was given to multibeam co_2 lasers in view of obtaining high power.The distinguishing characteristic of the CO_2 lasing process that makes these sustained power levels possible is its relatively high efficiency at least compared to most other common gas lasers.Unlike the other lasers producing visible or short near-IR light, the output of a CO_2 laser is medium-IR radiation at 10.6 um. At this wavelength, normal glass and plastics are opaque, and water completely absorbs the energy in the beam. The 10.6 um energy is ideal for cutting, engraving, welding, heat treating, and other industrial processing of many types of materials including (as appropriate)  metals, ceramics, plastics, wood, paper, cardboard, fabric, composites, and much much more. Needless to say, 10.6 um is totally invisible to the human eye and conventional solid state sensors are blind as a post. Therefore, thermal approaches are generally used to measure beam power or determine beam profile by CO_2 laser view plates,power meter and spectrum analyzer.