Ultrastable Carbon Dioxide (CO[sub]2[/sub]) Lasers

This paper reviews the spectral purity, frequency stability and long-term stabilization of CO 2 isotope lasers developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Extremely high spectral purity and short-term stability of less than 1.5 x 10-1' have been achieved and will be discussed. A long-term stabilization technique, which was used to line-center lock any regular or hot-band CO 2 isotope laser transition, is described. A brief description on using CO 2 lasers as secondary frequency standards is also given.