A plasma-laser amplifier in the 11-16 m wavelength range

Abstract

The possibility of using a plasma as the nonlinear medium of a parametric amplifier is examined. In the proposed scheme a 10.6 mu m CO2 laser is used to produce the pump beam. It is found that if the intensity of the pump beam is 1011 W/cm2 an experimentally realizable device could be made to amplify beams in the 11-16 mu m range with efficiencies limited only by the Manley-Rowe relations.