For achieving tunable and single longitudinal mode oscillation, a Fox-Smith type mode selector with a Fabry-Perot etalon was incorporated in a TEA CO
2 laser. The etalon was inserted in the optical path taken out from the main cavity of the CO
2 laser for protecting the etalon from damage on the surface. According to the longitudinal mode resulting from the etalon and the Fox-Smith optical path, the single mode oscillation of purities of more than 99% and 95% was performed with the probabilities of 55% and 100%, respectively. The tunability of a laser frequency was obtained with the purity of more than 75% over the whole gain region of the TEA CO
2 laser by controlling the tilting angle of the etalon or the optical path length of the Fox-Smith system.
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