Very Short Far Infrared Pulses from Optically Pumped CH3OH/D, Chooh and CH3F Lasers using an Eq-Switched CO2 Laser as a Pump Source

• Published in: 1979 International Conference on Submillimeter Waves and Their Applications pp. 234 - 235
• Main Authors: Bluyssen, H. J. A., van Etteger, A., Maan, J. C., Wyder, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-12-1979
• Subjects: Finite impulse response filters; Gas lasers; Laser excitation; Laser transitions; Mirrors; Power lasers; Pump lasers
• ISBN: 9781509031849; 1509031847
• DOI: 10.1109/ICSWA.1979.9335438

This paper describes the generation of far infrared pulses with a risetime of 10 −8 s from optically pumped CH 3 OH/D, CHOOH and CH 3 F lasers using a Q-switched current pulsed CO 2 laser as a pump source. The pump source consists of a conventional tunable low pressure (20 Torr) CO 2 laser which is Q-switched by a rotating mirror mounted on an air-driven spindle. Discharge current pulses up to 200 mA and 100-300 μs duration are produced and synchronized to the Q-switch by a trigger pulse from the rotating mirror. Due to the high discharge current, output powers are increased by at least a factor 5 with respect to Q-switched pulses from a d.c. current mode (20 mA). This leads to kW peak power pulses even at transitions such as 9P38, 9P6 and 9R6 which are especially important for pumping CH 3 OH and CH 3 OD. The pump pulses are focussed by an f = 50 cm mirror onto the 1 mm incoupling hole of the FIR cavity, which consists of a 1 m long 13 mm diameter quartz tube and two 25 mm diameter flat mirrors.