Numerical investigation of hybrid pumped picosecond CO2 amplifier

As a mid-infrared laser with large magnification and high beam quality, carbon dioxide lasers are often used as intermediate amplifiers in picosecond terawatt laser systems. With the combination of gas discharge and optical pump, the gain spectrum in 10μm can be greatly improved. In this paper, a numerical model is set up to describe the laser amplification and kinetic processes, based on six-temperature level structure, in hybrid pump CO₂ laser amplifier system. The influences of the pump power and its amplification results compared with conventional CO₂ laser are simulated and discussed. Such a hybrid pump CO₂ laser amplifier is very promising in improving output pulse quality by reducing the pulse split.