Passive Q-switching of the CO2laser by the FIR laser gas CH3I

Passive
Q
-switching of the
10P(32)
line of a CO
2
laser was obtained using methyl iodide as the saturable absorber. The pulse peak power is about 22 times higher than the CW output power. Pulse lengths of
1-2 \mu
s and repetition rates of 10
⁴
-10
⁵
s
^-1
were observed at pressures between 0.029 and 0.21 mbar.