Abstract

Laser emission on the sequence bands of CO₂ has been achieved in a TEA amplifier using either a hot-CO₂ cell or a Michelson interferometer to prevent oscillation of the regular bands. It has been found that the insertion losses of the hot-CO₂ filter severely limit the energy extraction efficiency on the sequence bands. With the Michelson arrangement, output energies of 140 mJ on the sequence P(17) have been produced in a 33-cm-long TEA amplifier. The relatively low efficiencies obtained suggest that generation of high-intensity laser beams at the sequence band frequencies would require the use of oscillator–amplifier combinations.

© 1978 Optical Society of America

Intense high-pressure sequence-band CO₂ laser

B. J. Feldman, Robert A. Fisher, C. R. Pollock, S. W. Simons, and R. G. Tercovich
Opt. Lett. 2(1) 16-18 (1978)

Pulsed CO₂ TEA laser rangefinder

M. J. Taylor, P. H. Davies, D. W. Brown, W. F. Woods, I. D. Bell, and C. J. Kennedy
Appl. Opt. 17(6) 885-889 (1978)

Stimulated rotational Raman scattering from para-H₂ pumped by a CO₂ TEA laser

P. Rabinowitz, A. Stein, R. Brickman, and A. Kaldor
Opt. Lett. 3(4) 147-148 (1978)

Optical bistability in the CO₂ laser: the regular- to sequence-band switching

J. W. R. Tabosa and J. R. Rios Leite
Opt. Lett. 11(9) 566-568 (1986)

Simultaneous frequency stabilization and injection in a TEA–CO₂ oscillator

J.-L. Lachambre, G. Otis, and P. Lavigne
Appl. Opt. 17(7) 1015-1017 (1978)