Optical gain and saturation intensity in a transverse-flow CW CO/sub 2/ laser

Simple expressions for the small-signal gain and the saturation intensity in a transverse-flow CW CO/sub 2/ laser have been derived considering the effect of gas flow and the finite time required for N/sub 2/ molecule to transfer its energy to CO/sub 2/ molecules. These expressions provide estimates of these parameters fairly close to the experimentally measured values in high-power transverse-flow CW CO/sub 2/ lasers.