Pulsed stimulated emission due to vibrational transitions in the carbon monoxide molecule

An investigation was made of pulsed stimulated emission due to vibrational transitions in the ground electronic state of CO excited by discharges in pure CO and in mixtures of CO with helium, argon, and xenon. It was found that the output power, shape and duration of the output pulses, and spectral composition of the stimulated radiation were different when discharges took place in pure CO from the corresponding parameters obtained for mixtures. Moreover, the discharge conditions had a strong influence on all these parameters. The experimental results indicated that different mechanisms of the population inversion of the active levels took place in the investigated mixtures. Allowance for the excitation and deexcitation of the vibrational levels by electrons, collisional exchange of the vibrational quanta (ν–ν exchange), and excitation via higher electronic states of the molecules explained the experimental observations.