Improvement of Lasing Characteristics of a Large-Bore Copper Vapor Laser by the Current Pulse Waveform Shaping

A novel pulse generator with a current pulse shaping circuit has been developed for the excitation of a large-bore copper vapor laser. The pulse generator completely restrains the wasteful discharge current that flows after the laser oscillation. We have proved that the pulse generator is very effective for the increase of the laser output power by applying it to an 80mm bore copper vapor laser. The laser output power increased about 12% for the 510nm line and 9% for the total lasing lines.