Undulation in the Output of a Pulsed Water-Vapor Laser

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Abstract
Output waveforms of a pulsed H2O laser are observed with an indium-doped germanium detector. The waveform is subject to a remarkable undulation and its frequency varies with the discharge current and conditions of the resonator rather than with the wavelength of emission. It is found that the undulation is interpreted as the beat between laser oscillations of different transverse modes. Since the maximum electron density of order 1012 cm-3 in the laser tube produces a change in refractive index of order 10-6 in the far-infrared, the radial distribution of the electron density is responsible for the change in beat frequencies between transverse modes. Effects of the electron plasma in the optical resonator are theoretically given and applied to explain the observed results.

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