Frequency stabilization of a rf excited CO2 laser on the peak of the Doppler broadened gain curve using the optogalvanic effect generated from the laser itself is achieved. The optogalvanic signal is directly coupled from a rf discharge chamber via a capacitor into a detector and a lock-in stabilizer. The frequency stability is estimated to be better then 3×10−8.

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We stabilized a frequency and a power of RF excited CO2 laser to the centers of the Doppler broadened gain curves using an opto-Hertzian effect generated from the laser itself. The frequency stability is estimated to be better then of 5.1 x108 and power variation is greatly improved to 2.9 %. We suggest that this method can be applied for frequency and power stabilization of other kinds of RE excited laser, for example, Xe and CO laser.