Control system of a high power fast axial flow CO2 laser

In order to improve the stability and intelligence of a fast axial flow (FAF) CO2 laser, a control system was developed with a SIEMENS S7-200 programmable logic controller adopted as the core and with laser power stabilized based on sampling the light from the rear mirror of the laser resonator.The structure and principle of each unit were described.The system was tested on a 4kW FAF CO2 laser.The curves of pressure stability, power stability, discharge wave, and the pattern of laser mode were acquired. The pressure fluctuation was less than ±50Pa, the power fluctuation was close to 10.1%.The continuous, pulsed and hyper-pulsed discharge could be achieved.The results show that the system can control a FAF CO2 laser well and its stability and intelligence are improved.