Two-frequency CO/sub 2/-laser with orthogonal elliptic polarizations of modes

Abstract

For two-frequency lasers, in which radiation contains two waves with orthogonal polarization and has a small frequency difference we are able to realize a heterodyne measurement method which has considerable advantages over a homodyne one. In comparison with two-frequency He-Ne lasers, the two-frequency CO/sub 2/-laser has not yet found wide practical application because of the complexity of its realization.