This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the viability of an innovative, compact and very cost effective rectangular discharge geometry for CO2 lasers with output powers in the 25 to 150 watt range. The proposed discharge geometry requires only five intravacuum elements and employs low frequency, transverse RF excitation. Therefore the reduced parts and fabrication cost enjoyed by this device approach has the potential to expand the size of the CO2 laser market via increasing device performance without a corresponding price increase. QSource believes this proposal concerns an innovation that falls within the `National Critical Technologies` definition as described in Section 1.3 of the Solicitation. The specific Phase I experimental goals will be to demonstrate a laser output of 36 W with a discharge efficiency of 15% using existing proof-of-principle hardware. This level of device performance has been identified by our potential Phase III partner as that required for a future medical laser product.
