Design, Fabrication and Delivery of a Line Selectable CO Laser

The report discusses the technical background, design features, hardware and performance of a line selectable CO laser system. This laser was designed to operate with a high degree of amplitude stability and provides for line selection from 5.04 to 5.6 microns. The laser utilizes a three - element (two mirrors and one grating) optical resonator to achieve wavelength selectivity in a very high Q (low loss) optical configuration. This optimized configuration along with other design features has resulted in long term sealed tube operation with power outputs on single line from 0.1 to 1.00 W in the TEM sub (oo) mode.