Abstract

We report on extensive experimental and theoretical investigations of the supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL). The interest in the COIL lies in the enormous storage capacity of its chemical constituents, amounting to several megajoules per liter, as well as in the fact that it emits at 1315 nm, a very useful wavelength for fiber optics. The laser transition takes place between the spinorbit levels of the ground state configuration of the iodine atom where the upper level is populated by near resonant energy transfer from an electronically excited oxygen molecule: O₂(¹Δ) in the gas phase, at nearly 100% yield in the Torr range, is produced by a gas-liquid reaction of Cl₂ gas with basic hydrogen peroxide solution.

© 1994 IEEE