Development of resonators for high-power CO2 lasers

A brief review is made for the schemes of optical resonators for the generation of a high-quality beam in high-power CO2 lasers. The main results of the self-filtering resonator application in the industrial laser are presented. The self-filtering resonator is compared to the stable resonator by the output beam characteristics, aberration sensitivity, and laser cut characteristics by the example of steel cutting.

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