Pulsed Behavior and Inversion Mechanism in the Carbon Monoxide Laser

Time delay of lasing transitions in carbon monoxide was investigated at 77 °K under pulsed electrical excitation. Inversion is attributed to anharmonic decoupling which makes v-v relaxation ineffective for levels above a value ve=1 + kT/hc2ωexe. Initial lasing occurs near ve with subsequent transitions resulting from cascading inversions. Measured delays ranged from 15 to 240 μ sec with undercoupled output up to 1.2 W.