Single-mode optical pumping and superradiant emission in D2O and CH3F

Superradiant FIR emission in both D₂O and CH₃F has been investigated using a tunable single-mode CO₂ TEA laser as optical pump, and results compared with multimode pumping. The frequency offset of the absorbing transitions has been measured and compared to other work. Estimates of the dipole transition moments were also obtained from saturation broadening data. Fine structure of the CH₃F (Q12, K) lines have been resolved and compared with theory. High quantum conversion efficiencies were observed for several lines in D₂O: 38% (99 μm), 20% (385 μm) and 12.5% (121 μm) and in CH₃F 21% (496 μm).