All-glass vacuum-insulated liquid-nitrogen cooled CO laser

An all-glass design for a vacuum-insulated liquid-nitrogen cooled CO laser is described. The outer jacket of this laser tube consists of a silvered all-glass Dewar which efficiently thermally insulates the cryogenic reservoir. The laser is operated in a pulsed mode using car ignition coils as high-voltage transformers. The laser is inexpensive, easy to operate, and reliable. Up to 260 W peak power at 0.1 ms pulse duration and 50 pulses/s was attained.