Diagnostics of active media of CO2 lasers by the laser spectrograph method

An analysis is made of the results of diagnostics of the active medium of a waveguide CO₂ laser by the laser spectrograph method. It is shown that a simplified approach to this method has led to errors in determination of the translational and vibrational temperatures of CO₂ molecules and, consequently, to an incorrect understanding of the physical processes occurring in the active medium of the laser.