Laser plasma isolator for a retropulse in a CO2 laser amplifier chain

Abstract
A laser plasma isolator was developed to attenuate a retropulse in a high‐power CO2 laser system. An attenuation ratio of 1/20 of a main laser beam (∼1‐J 3‐nsec pulse‐width FWHM) was obtained by blowing off a carbon plasma induced by a plasma production laser beam (∼0.5‐J 3‐nsec pulse‐width FWHM) onto the waist of the main laser beam.