Optically pumped oxygen-iodine laser

Abstract

A novel optical pumping scheme considering a two-step irradiation by light at wavelengths near 500 nm and 1315 nm is proposed in this work. Radiation at 500 nm is used to dissociate about 1% of iodine molecules. The radiation at 1315 nm excites atomic iodine to the 2P1/2 state. Singlet oxygen molecules are produced via the energy exchange process I(2P1/2)+O2(X3Σ)→ I(2P3/2)+O2(a1Δ), while I(2P1/2)+O2(a1Δ) energy pooling produces b1Σ oxygen. I(2P3/2) and O2(1Σ) then accelerate the dissociation of I2. After gas dynamic cooling in supersonic nozzle, active medium may reach ~100 W cm–2 and small signal gain of ~0.01 cm-1.