Abstract: A uv preionized CO.sub.2 oscillator with integral four-pass amplifier capable of providing 1 to 5 GW laser pulses with pulse widths from 0.1 to 0.5 ns full width at half-maximum (FWHM) is described. The apparatus is operated at any pressure from 1 atm to 10 atm without the necessity of complex high voltage electronics. The reinjection technique employed gives rise to a compact, efficient system that is particularly immune to alignment instabilities with a minimal amount of hardware and complexity.

Abstract: Coherent light is incident upon an acousto-optical cell through which bulk acoustic waves are propagating. These acoustic waves correspond to a signal to be delayed and result from the application of the signal to a piezoelectric transducer of the cell. The waves cause periodic variations in the refractive index of the cell which interact with the coherent light. Acoustic frequency components of the propagating waves correspond to the signal frequency components and cause the cell to diffract the beam of incident coherent light and to frequency shift the diffracted beam. The relative phases of the acoustic frequency components of the acoustic waves also correspond to the phases of the frequency components of the signal to be delayed and are imparted to the respective diffracted light beams. The diffracted light is combined with undiffracted coherent light so that optical heterodyning takes place.

Abstract: The assembly includes a plurality of individual pulse lasers arranged to be successively triggered at predetermined time intervals. A single light transmissive body receives the output pulses from the lasers at different input angles so that the respective pulses follow different path lengths in the body. The sequence of firing of the lasers and the respective angles are such that pulses exiting from the body will all exit substantially simultaneously. The result is a high energy concentration of output light.