Investigation of the lasing conditions for several transitions in waveguide CO2 lasers utilizing a diffraction grating

A study was made of the conditions for two-frequency switchable lasing between neighboring vibrational-rotational transitions in waveguide CO₂ lasers utilizing a diffraction grating. A weakening of the selectivity of the diffraction grating was found in waveguide resonators. This made it possible to obtain lasing on several transitions for a fixed position of the grating, and consequently to achieve a two-frequency switchable lasing regime. An investigation was made of a region of simultaneous lasing on two transitions in a CO₂ laser with a waveguide-type resonator.