Experiments on gas-phase optically pumped infrared lasers

Population inversions in small gas-phase molecules are produced by optical pumping of vibrational overtone transitions. Efficient frequency down conversion of the pump radiation is obtained by lasing on the inverted transitions. The performance of the lasers is governed by kinetic relaxation and energy exchange processes. The effect of these processes on the ultimate scalability of this class of laser will be discussed.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.