Infrared Sidelight Studies in the High-Power Carbon Monoxide Laser

Abstract

Spontaneous radiation on the CO fundamental vibration-rotation bands, created by sidelight emission from a liquid-nitrogen—cooled CO–He laser, has been studied spectroscopically. The CO rotational temperature and the relative populations of vibrational states v=1 to v=14 have been inferred. The vibrational population distribution is significantly non-Boltzmann.