Saturated gain due to vibrational–rotational transitions of the CO molecule

A theoretical investigation is made of the effect of gain saturation of short (1 nsec to 2 μsec) multifrequency light pulses in an active medium, in the case of cascaded transitions for the specific case of carbon monoxide. The saturation energy is determined and the gain is optimized with respect to a number of parameters. The efficiency of carbon monoxide as a medium for amplifying light pulses of 0.01-1μsec duration is found. An investigation is made of the evolution of the shape of a multifrequency signal as it propagates in an amplifier. Analytical expressions for estimating the parameters of a saturated pulse are obtained.