Vol. 31, Issue 3, pp. 509-544 (2001)

Abstract

The rich spectrum of the CO₂ molecule is an appreciated advantage of lasers based on the carbon dioxide medium. On the other hand, that specific feature of the CO₂ molecule brings about many problems. Sometimes it can be a serious obstacle in designing laser devices. The paper gives an overview of the spectral properties of the radiation of different kinds of CO₂ lasers. Many examples of the spectral phenomena are presented on modern RF excited waveguide, multi-waveguide and slab-waveguide CO₂ lasers.