Edinburgh FIRL-100 FIR (THz) Laser

The FIRL-100 has both the CO₂ pump laser (PL5) and the FIR laser (295-FIR) housed in an integrated structure combining a highly efficient optically pumped FIR system into a single compact unit. The lasers and coupling optics are mounted within a 5 bar invar rod frame for excellent thermal and mechanical stability.

The CO₂ section provides 80 lines between 9.1 µm and 10.9 µm and features a flowing gas single discharge tube giving more than 50 W on the strongest lines. Mode performance (M2 <1.25) is assured by internal profiling of the tube and the use of high quality optics. The resonator design is based on the proven PL5 laser with diffraction grating, two ZnSe Brewster windows and piezo ceramic mounted ZnSe output coupler.

The CO₂ laser output is coupled into the FIR laser via two steering mirrors and a ZnSe focussing lens. Access to the CO2 radiation beam diagnostics for Infrared experiments is available via a precision, two position sliding mirror mechanism.