PULSED CO LASER-BASED ON THE FIRST VIBRAT IONAL OVERTONE

A description is given of the apparatus and calculation method used in experimental and theoretical determination of the characteristics of an electron-beam-controIled CO laser operating exclusively on the basi s of the transitions corresponding to the first vibrational overtone. The results of the experimental and theoretical studies are analysed a nd compared. The adopted model gives results in good agreement with th e experimental data for CO-N-2 mixtures. A study is reported of the in fluence of the optical cavity selectivity on the lasing characteristic s. Calculations demonstrate that a change from a narrow-band cavity us ed in our experiments to a broad-band nonselective cavity should impro ve the energy characteristics of the laser by about an order of magnit ude.