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Single-longitudinal-mode operation of pulsed, high-pressure, transversely excited CO2 lasers has been obtained by means of a saturable absorber (SF6) cell placed inside the laser cavity. Eighty percent of the multimode ouput power is obtained in the single-mode output. Single-mode operation has been verified by means of a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. Pressure broadening of the saturable absorber by a buffer gas has been found to cause multimode mode-locked operation of the laser.
Nurmikko et al. (1971) studied this question.