Laser pumped molecular lasers - Part I: Theory

Abstract

The density matrix formalism describing the interaction between a three level molecular system and two nearly resonant laser fields of arbitrary intensity is extended to include the molecular <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">M</tex> -level degeneracy. Expressions for gain on the two possible relative polarizations of a laser pumped molecular laser are derived and its saturation behavior discussed. Numerical results for the 385 μm transition in D <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> O and 496 μm transition in CH <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf> F are presented.