Mechanism of passive<tex>Q</tex>switching in CO<inf>2</inf>lasers

Abstract

Passive <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Q</tex> switching of a CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> laser by saturable absorbers is analyzed in terms of a four-state kinetic model previously used to interpret infrared saturations double resonance, and pulse transmission. Good agreement is found between the predictions of this model and the experimental dependence of such variables as pulsewidth, repetition frequency, and peak power on the presence of buffer gases mixed in with the absorber.