Sealed waveguide CO laser

The results are given of investigations into the energy and spectral characteristics of a cw waveguide CO laser with a water-cooled waveguide at temperatures of from -15 to +40 /sup 0/C and operating at gas mixture pressures of from 40 to 170 Torr. It was found that the number of lines in the laser emission spectrum decreased on increasing the pressure and temperature and under certain conditions lasing was observed on only one line, of wavenumber 1846.9 cm/sup -1/ having a power of around 0.2 W, without introducing selective devices into the resonator. The frequency of this line could be continuously tuned over a range of 300 MHz. The laser operated for more than 800 h in the sealed regime.