Frequency tunable single-line pulsed first-overtone carbon monoxide laser

Tunable single-line first-overtone (FO) CO lasing on wavelengths from 2.7 up to 4.2 mu m corresponding to overtone vibrational transitions from 13 --> 11 up to 38 --> 36 on 413 ro-vibrational lines was experimentally obtained. A parametric study of energetic and spectral characteristics of the single-line FO CO laser was carried out. Energy distribution over re-vibrational lines was measured. The maximum specific output energy (SOE) came up to similar to 3 J/l Amagat, with single-line output efficiency being up to 0.6%. For the first time, a multi-quantum theoretical model was used to describe the tunable single-line FO CO laser. This multi-quantum approach demonstrated better agreement between theoretical calculations and observed experimental data for laser output as a function of vibrational quantum numbers. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.