Recent advances in the development of discharge‐pumped oxygen‐iodine lasers

Abstract

Chemical oxygen-iodine lasers are unique in their ability to generate high-power beams with near diffraction limited beam quality. The operating wavelength, 1.315 μm is readily transmitted by the atmosphere and compatible with fiber optics beam delivery systems. However, applications of the laser are severely limited by logistical problems associated with the complex chemistry used to power the device. Electrical or microwave discharge excitation of oxygen-iodine lasers offers an attractive alternative that eliminates the chemical power generation problems and has the possibility of closedcycle operation. A discharge oxygen-iodine laser was first demonstrated in 2005. Since that time the power of the device has been improved by a factor of 400 and much has been learned concerning the physics and chemistry of the discharge driven system. Although our current understanding of the chemical kinetics is incomplete, parametric studies of laser performance show considerable promise for further scaling. This article reviews the basic principles of the discharge oxygen iodine laser, summarizes the most recent advances, and outlines some of the unresolved questions regarding the production and removal of excited species in the gas flow.

Oxygen atom density and thermal energy control in an electric-oxygen iodine laser

“…Computational modeling of the discharge and post-discharge kinetics [13][14][15] has been an invaluable tool in ElectricOIL development, allowing analysis of the production and depletion of various discharge species [such as O 2 (a), O 2 (b 1 ), O-atoms, and O 3 ] and determination of the influence of NO X species on system kinetics. Ionin [16] and Heaven [17] provide comprehensive topical reviews of discharge production of O 2 (a) and various ElectricOIL studies. Currently, the highest reported peak gain and laser power in an ElectricOIL device are 0.30% cm −1 and 538 W, respectively [1] .…”

Advanced Gas Laser Experiments and Modeling

“…Computational modeling of the discharge and post-discharge kinetics [Stafford, 2004;Palla, 2007] has been an invaluable tool in ElectricOIL development, allowing analysis of the production of various discharge species [O 2 (a 1 Δ), O 2 (b 1 Σ), O atoms, and O 3 ] and determination of the influence of NO X species on system kinetics. Ionin et al [Ionin, 2007] and Heaven [Heaven, 2010a] provide comprehensive topical reviews of discharge production of O 2 (a) and various ElectricOIL studies. The highest gain in an ElectricOIL device reported to date is 0.30 % cm -1 [Benavides, 2012], and the highest output power reported is 538 W [Benavides, 2012].…”

Features of power extraction in EOIL

“…7). This presents a real challenge for energy extraction from the EOIL active medium 10,11 . A number of papers [5][6][7][8] is devoted to the experimental study of cw EOIL energy performance.…”