100-PS FAR-INFRARED LASER-PULSES FROM OPTICALLY PUMPED D2O

In this paper we report the generation of ultrashort far-infrared lase r pulses with durations less than 100 ps, powers exceeding 200 kW and intensities of more than 1.5 MW/cm2. Far-infrared radiation was produc ed via stimulated resonance Raman scattering using a high-pressure CO2 -laser as pump source and the heavy water isotopes (D2O)-O-16 and (D2O )-O-18 as far-infrared laser media. Pulses achieved from this laser sy stem were detected by a novel type of detector, sensitive over a broad spectral range from the far-infrared to the visible, basing on quasip article heating in a strip-line structured YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin film.