High resolution laser spectroscopy and optical pumping of the CF4 molecule by radiation from a continuously tunable CO2 laser

A continuously tunable CO₂ laser was used to measure, with a resolution of 4×10^–3cm^–1, the absorption spectrum of the CF₄ molecule in the ν₂+ν₄ band, close to the P(6) and R(4)–R(16) lines of the 00⁰1–02⁰0 band of the CO₂ laser. A CF₄ laser was optically pumped and lasing was obtained in the 16 μ region on several tetrahedral components. An analysis was made of the available data on the lasing spectra of the isotopic molecules ¹²CF₄, ¹³CF₄, and ¹⁴CF₄. This analysis explained the operating mechanism of a laser of this type and the negligible influence of the rotational relaxation on its lasing spectrum. It was discovered that an important part is played, both in the excitation and in the emission of the CF₄ laser, by normally weak transitions accompanied by a change in the rotational angular momentum of the molecule (ΔR = ±1,±2).