Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Engineering and Applied Science
First Advisor
George A. Tsongas
Term of Graduation
Spring 1979
Date of Publication
5-17-1979
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Applied Science
Language
English
Subjects
Carbon dioxide lasers, Solar radiation, Outer space
DOI
10.15760/etd.2794
Physical Description
1 online resource (3, xiii, 53 pages)
Abstract
The possibility of using sunlight to pump a CW carbon dioxide laser has been analyzed. Such a laser could be of interest for such applications as space communication and power transmission. In order to optically pump CO2 using sunlight, the intense vibrational-rotational absorption bands of CO2 in the 4.3 micron spectral region would have to be utilized. The total pumping power from sunlight can be calculated from the known data of the solar spectral irradiance outside the atmosphere and the infrared absorption by carbon dioxide at 4.3 microns. The pumping power is proportional to the collector area of the sunlight and is also dependent on the characteristics of the absorbing gas mixture, such as the gas composition, the gas temperature, the total pressure of the mixture, the partial pressure of CO2, and the absorption path length of the sunlight in the gas.
To analyze the carbon dioxide laser system, a thermodynamic approach was used with a simplified CO2 chemical kinetic model. The gain and saturation intensity were obtained by solving a set of energy balance equations which describe the processes among the various vibrational modes. From those results, along with the estimated cavity losses, the output power was found.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/17101
Recommended Citation
Morimoto, Seiichi, "A Feasibility Analysis of a Directly Sun-Pumped Carbon Dioxide Laser in Space" (1979). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2798.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.2794
Comments
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Applied Science.
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to pdxscholar@pdx.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.