PULSED HIGH-POWER FAR-INFRARED GAS-LASERS - PERFORMANCE AND SPECTRAL SURVEY

The practical performance of a pulsed superfluorescent far-infrared gas laser pumped by a transversely-excited atmospheric CO//2 laser is described. The system is designed to serve as a high-power source for experiments in far-infrared nonlinear optics and saturation spectroscopy of solids. Out of numerous candidates, 11 gases were selected for a careful survey: CH//3 F, **1 **3 CH//3 F, NH//3 , D//2 O, D//2 **1 **8 O, D//2 S, HDS, CH//3 Cl, CH//3 Br, CH//3 I, and CH//3 CN. With an available pump energy of up to 10 J, a total of 203 far-infrared lines with pulse energies up to 12 mJ were found, covering the wavelength range from 42 mu m to 1. 2 mm. 78 of these lines had not been observed before. The position of another 39 lines is at variance with previous reports in the literature.