However a CO2 laser can't work unless the IR can leave the tube something your claim above says doesn't happen. You just made a CO2 laser tube impossible using your physics
the co2 laser does not utilize photon emission it utilizes
electron impacts to nitrogen
nitrogen cannot emit a photon so the excited nitrogen
transfers energy through collisions with co2 molecules
and the nitrogen is left in its lower energy state
then the nitrogen transitions to ground state through
collisions with cold helium atoms.
the result being a gas discharge.
according to this page.
no photon activity is mentioned taking place at all...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_laserThe population inversion in the laser is achieved by the following sequence: electron impact excites vibrational motion of the nitrogen. Because nitrogen is a homonuclear molecule, it cannot lose this energy by photon emission, and its excited vibrational levels are therefore metastable and live for a long time. Collisional energy transfer between the nitrogen and the carbon dioxide molecule causes vibrational excitation of the carbon dioxide, with sufficient efficiency to lead to the desired population inversion necessary for laser operation. The nitrogen molecules are left in a lower excited state. Their transition to ground state takes place by collision with cold helium atoms. The resulting hot helium atoms must be cooled in order to sustain the ability to produce a population inversion in the carbon dioxide molecules. In sealed lasers, this takes place as the helium atoms strike the walls of the container. In flow-through lasers, a continuous stream of CO2 and nitrogen is excited by the plasma discharge and the hot gas mixture is exhausted from the resonator by pumps.
