Dynamic saturation of optical transitions in high-power molecular lasers

An analysis is made of the saturation of optical transitions in high-power molecular lasers under conditions of transient excitation of the active medium and simultaneous departure from equilibrium in the translational, rotational, and vibrational degrees of freedom of the emitting molecules. The dependence of the saturation intensity on typical time parameters of a system is obtained in two limiting cases of homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening of spectral lines and estimates are obtained of the saturation intensity for several specific laser systems (electric-discharge CO₂ laser and pulsed as well as cw chemical HF lasers).