A plasma shutter for far-infrared laser radiation

A new type of a plasma shutter for far-infrared (FIR) laser radiation is presented. This plasma shutter blocks a FIR laser beam within 0.7 ns by a rapidly expanding plasma. This device has been applied to produce FIR pulses with variable duration between 10 and 100 ns and to select 1-ns FIR pulses from a pulse train.