Experimental study on an all gas-phase iodine laser using microwave discharge of Cl2/He as a Cl atoms source.
Microwave discharge of a Cl2/He mixture as a simple, clean and efficient Cl atom generator was used for an all gas-phase iodine laser study. Sufficient NCl(a1Delta) was produced through the reaction of HN3+2Cl-->NCl(a1Delta)+HCl+N2. The energy transfer reaction of I(2P3/2)+NCl(a1Delta)-->I(2P1/2)+NCl(X3Sigma) was observed. A population inversion was observed directly by using a 1315 nm tunable diode laser by scanning the entire line shape of the (3,4) hyperfine transition of iodine, and a small signal gain of 5x10(-5) cm-1 was obtained.
The measurement of gain on the 1.315 μm transition of atomic iodine in a subsonic flow of chemically generated NCl(a1Δ)
Abstract Gain is measured on the electronic I( 2 P 3/2 )– I ∗ ( 2 P 1/2 ) transition of atomic iodine at 1.315 μm when hydrazoic acid HN 3 is injected into a flow of iodine and chlorine atoms. The inversion was generated in a transverse subsonic flow device that produced electronically excited I ∗ ( 2 P 1/2 ) atoms from the efficient energy transfer reaction between NCl(a 1 Δ ) metastable and ground state I ( 2 P 3/2 ) atoms. The population inversion was directly observed using a 1.315 μm tunable diode laser that scanned the entire line shape of the (3,4) hyperfine transition of iodine.
Recent Progress in the Development of a Multi-Watt All Gas-Phase Iodine Laser (AGIL)
Recent results in the development of a multi-watt All Gas-phase Iodine Laser (AGIL) are presented. A description of the subsonic hardware used to produce NCl(a 1 Δ), direct measurements of I*( 2 P1/2) - I( 2 P3/2) small signal gain, and parametric studies to optimize the gain are described.