Chemical oxygen-iodine laser for high-power utilizing rf discharge dissociation of I 2

Abstract

We suggest pre-dissociation iodine molecule utilizing RF-discharge (Radio Frequency discharge) dissociation of I2 for chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). The object of the study is to make clear that RF discharge is effective on our experiment. We focus chemical reaction of COIL itself, and especially consider a scheme of dissociation of I2 So following chemical reaction is a process of dissociate iodine molecule into iodine atom by O2(1AE). I2+ nO2(1 AE) ? 2I + n O2(3? ) n=4~6 This chemical reaction indicates that to dissociate iodine molecule into iodine atom needs a lot of O2(1AE ). In our experiments we could prove that RF was effective in this term. Approximately 60% of iodine molecular, which is dissociated by RF discharge, is carried to laser cavity. It is estimated that the other 40% of iodine atom is recombination in our COIL system. As the results, we can obtain higher power, higher gain by using RF discharge dissociation than normal COIL.