Abstract

Experimental results from an investigation of rf excitation of high-pressure CO₂ waveguide lasers, performed to obtain continuous frequency tuning between line centers, are reported. Application of the rf technique has several potential advantages: stable output pulses; high-pulse repetition rate, good pulse-shape control by amplitude modulation of the rf excitation pulses; long sealed-off lifetime; and no requirement for preionization. We have recently obtained lasing at 10 atm,¹ and this result opens the possibility of continuous tuning of rf CO₂ lasers. For pulsed TE lasers the required gas pressure for continuous tuning is 2-5 atm² for isotope mixtures and 8-12 atm³ for a single isotope. In this paper we report new results obtained with excitation power 4 times higher than in Ref. 1.

© 1982 Optical Society of America