10.6µ waveguide laser power amplifier

The analytical results and experimental measurements given earlier provide all the information required to determine a final amplifier design. Using given values of output power and saturated gain, and measured values of small signal gain and saturation intensity, we may use eq. (8) to calculate the required device length, and Fig. 1 to determine the bandwidth. This calculation may be repeated for a series of pressures in order to determine the conditions which require the smallest device length consistent with bandwidth requirements. For example, an amplifier of our bore size producing 100 W of output power and 20 dB of saturated gain would be 4 meters long (at an optimum pressure of 100 Torr) and have a bandwidth of 600 MHz. Further reductions in length can be obtained by cooling to dry ice temperatures (thereby increasing the small signal gain), or by operating in a double pass configuration. We wish to acknowledge valuable technical discussions with G. Rupert.