Molecular absorption of pulsed CO2 laser radiation in the presence of a buffer gas

Abstract

A pulsed CO2 laser with a nonselective resonator (RI8) was used for the experiments, driven by an air spark gap at atmospheric pressure, with a pulse energy stability of • and a modified pulsed CO2 laser with a nitrogen spark gap at higher pressure with a pulse energy stability of • The amount of energy absorbed by the gas in the cuvette (diameter 3.4 cm, length i0 cm) was determined by measuring the transmitted energy (typically 50-95% of that incident) with a KIM-I calorimeter.