Longitudinal mode selection by injection in a high pressure CO(2) laser.

Single longitudinal mode (SLM) selection in a 10-atm CO(2) laser is reported. Experiments have been performed with cw injection of 1 mW/cm(2) or pulsed injection of 1 mJ/cm(2) (in 50 ns) around CO(2) line centers. A simple analytical formula of the minimum intensity required for injection of a frequency nu has been obtained. It gives the dependence vs the two most important parameters: (1) the detuning nu-nu to the center nu of the net gain curve, (2) the detuning deltanu(Kappa) to the nearest longitudinal mode of the cavity. The comparison with experimental results published on TEA lasers is very successful. The application of the formula shows the possibility of SLM selection continuously tunable in a high pressure CO(2) laser with <1 mW/cm(2) if a grating is incorporated in the cavity, and with a pulsed source of 1 kW/cm(2) without any selective element. The actual sources suitable for this purpose are reviewed.

[1]  C. R. Hammond,et al.  Single longitudinal mode operation of a transversely excited CO2 laser , 1974 .

[2]  M. Piche,et al.  Single Longitudinal Mode Operation Of A Continuously Tunable High Pressure TE-CO2 Laser , 1986, Other Conferences.

[3]  W. Fuß,et al.  Multiphoton absorption of broad-band CO2 laser radiation by SF6 , 1984 .

[4]  S. J. Thomas,et al.  Observation of interband Faraday rotation at 10.59‐μ wavelength in room‐temperature Ge, CdTe, and GaAs , 1974 .

[5]  A. Kar,et al.  Spectral control of gain-switched lasers by injection seeding: application to TEA CO2 systems , 1985 .

[6]  P. Lavigne,et al.  Injection locking and mode selection in TEA-CO 2 laser oscillators , 1976 .

[7]  F. Rheault,et al.  Dynamics of the CO2 Atmospheric Pressure Laser with Transverse Pulse Excitation , 1972 .

[8]  P. Cheo,et al.  Frequency synthesized and continuously tunable IR laser sources in 9-11 µm , 1984 .

[9]  N. Menyuk,et al.  Development of a high‐repetition‐rate mini‐TEA CO2 laser , 1980 .

[10]  L. Goldberg,et al.  Single longitudinal mode operation of a transversely excited CO 2 laser , 1972 .

[11]  D. R. Adams,et al.  Resonance structure of multiple-photon excitation in symmetric and asymmetric tops , 1983 .

[12]  R. T. Menzies,et al.  Tunable single‐longitudinal‐mode operation of an injection‐locked TEA CO2 laser , 1979 .

[13]  A. A. Sarkisyan,et al.  Narrow resonances (Δv=2·10−2 cm−1) of multiple-photon IR absorption in ethylene , 1980 .

[14]  P. Flamant,et al.  Tunable mode and line selection by injection in a TEA CO2 laser. , 1984, Applied optics.

[15]  V. Bagratashvili,et al.  Frequency tuning of an e-beam preionized high-pressure CO2 laser , 1973 .

[16]  B. Danly,et al.  A tunable far infrared laser , 1984, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.

[17]  P. Flamant,et al.  Mode selection and frequency tuning by injection in pulsed TEA-CO 2 lasers , 1983 .

[18]  G. Mégie,et al.  Complementarity of UV and IR differential absorption lidar for global measurements of atmospheric species. , 1980, Applied optics.

[19]  I. Knyazev,et al.  Single-mode frequency tuning of a high-pressure photopreionized CO2-laser , 1985 .

[20]  C. Angelie,et al.  Spectral distribution of a high pressure CO(2) laser: experiment and theory. , 1987, Applied optics.

[21]  Yoh-Han Pao,et al.  Far-infrared radiation isolator , 1973 .

[22]  Uri P. Oppenheim,et al.  Pulse evolution and mode selection characteristics in a TEA-CO2 laser perturbed by injection of external radiation , 1983 .

[23]  S. M. Nikiforov,et al.  Spectral characteristics of the SF6 molecules excitation by a strong IR laser field at continuously tuned radiation frequency , 1979 .

[24]  J. Lourtioz,et al.  Limits in CW injection-locking of stable resonator CO2 TEA lasers , 1984 .

[25]  C. Cantrell,et al.  Study of multiphoton resonances in the CF3I molecule , 1985 .

[26]  A. Alcock,et al.  Electrical and gain characteristics of a multiatmosphere UV-preionized CO 2 laser , 1979 .

[27]  Jerald R. Izatt,et al.  Mode control and high energy operation of a multiatmosphere TE CO2 laser using a three-mirror resonator , 1986 .

[28]  P. Mathieu,et al.  Single-mode TEA-CO 2 injection laser , 1977 .

[29]  Robert G. Harrison,et al.  Theoretical and experimental study of the injection-locked TEA CO 2 laser incorporating electron-plasma prepulse chirp phenomena , 1985 .

[30]  C. Angelie,et al.  Multiphoton absorption of 12CF3I, 13CF3I, CF3Br and SF6 by a high pressure CO2 laser , 1987 .

[31]  J. Bruneau.  A tunable single-longitudinal-mode CO2 oscillator for efficient optical pumping , 1982 .

[32]  A. Gondhalekar,et al.  Single Longitudinal Mode Operation of High Pressure Pulsed CO_sub.2 Lasers , 1973 .