SPECTROSCOPY OF NEW CH3OH FIR LASER LINES PUMPED BY NEW CO2-LASER LINES

The number of CO2 laser lines available for optical pumping of far-inf rared (FIR) lasers has been significantly increased by the development of a new continuous wave (cw) CO2 laser at the Time and Frequency Div ision of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder , Colorado. This system operates on very high-J lines of the normal ba nds as well as on sequence and new hot-band lines, and has generated n umerous new FIR laser transitions in CH3OH. These include the new 123 mu m world-record holder, pumped by the 9HP(20) hot-band CO2 line, whi ch is now the most efficient known FIR laser line. Assignments are giv en for a number of the IR pump-FIR laser energy level and transition s ystems, based on our high-resolution Fourier transform studies of the FIR and IR spectra of CH3OH. Features of the transition system for the 123 mu m line and wave numbers for several further potential FIR lase r lines are presented.