Slab lasers on fundamental and overtone transitions of the carbon monoxide molecule with capacitive radio-frequency discharge pumping and cryogenic cooling of electrodes

The research on the development of e-beam sustained discharge lasers on carbon monoxide molecule initiated by N.G. Basov in early 1970s made it possible to develop the lasers based on the main transitions of CO molecules with high laser power and efficiency. Soon, under his scientific supervision, the lasing on overtone transitions of CO molecules was obtained. Following that research, about ten years ago a compact slab CO laser pumped by a repetitively pulsed capacitive RF discharge and cryogenic cooling of its electrodes, operating without forced pumping of the active medium was for the first time developed at the N.G. Basov Quantum Radio-Physics Division of the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute. At present, the average power of such lasers with active medium volume of ∼35 cm³ reaches 40 W on CO molecule fundamental transitions (in the wavelength range of 5.06–5.92 μm) and 6 W on overtone transitions (2.60–3.05 μm). In Q-switching mode, these repetitively pulsed lasers allow one to obtain laser emission with the peak power up to 5 kW which makes it possible to use them in the experiments on laser beam frequency conversion in nonlinear crystals into the spectral range of ∼2–20 μm.