Experimental and theoretical study of noncooled CO laser with short pulse pumping

This paper describes experiments and theory relating to CO laser action in various CO mixtures with N
2
and/or He. Short-pulse electron beam excitation of
1-2 \mu
s produced laser output between 1600 and 1900 cm
^-1
; the most intense line was at 1788.4 cm
^-1
and the shortest pulses of 4 μs duration were generated in the CO:He mixture. Although the calculated maximum efficiency was 7 percent, the maximum measured efficiency was 3 percent.