High-intensity CO2 laser pumping of a CH3F Raman FIR laser.

Fifteen new, Raman far-infrared (FIR) laser emission lines in CH(3)F have been excited by optically pumping up to 24 GHz off resonance with high-intensity CO(2) TEA laser radiation (up to 20 MW/cm(2)). Most of these new lines are produced with high quantum efficiency in a waveguide laser system. High-intensity laser pumping could also be applied to other gases to produce many new, efficient lines. The present results suggest that a nearly continuously tunable source of FIR radiation in the 175-500-microm range could be obtained through Raman laser emission in CH(3)F using a tunable, multiatmospheric CO(2) pump laser.