The nitrogen N2 laser

The molecular orbital configuration of N2 has been described in Section 7.2.1.1. The ground 

Laser action has been obtained in a few transitions in both these systems but the C B laser action has proved to be more important because it resulted in the first ultraviolet laser. It is only this system that we shall consider here. 

The operating wavelength of a nitrogen laser is 337 nm for the 0-0 transition of the C B system. 

2 The reader is reminded that the labels A, B, C rather than a, b, c for triplet states of N2 do not follow the usual convention. 

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