Parametric studies on generation of short CO2 laser pulses for IR-laser chemistry

Results of parametric studies on short CO2 laser pulse generation by laser induced dielectric breakdown in a plasma shutter cell are described. From the rise time of such short pulses obtained, threshold breakdown intensity (I-th) has been estimated for different gases. The technique is further extended to obtain 40 ns pulses on two-frequency emission from a single TEA CO2 laser, Pressure dependent studies of I-th are utilised to model the process of such laser induced plasma. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.