Abstract
The active medium of the supersonic chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL), operating on the ) P I( ) P I( 3/2 2 1/2 2 → electronic transition of the I atom, is formed by mixing the supersonic flows of chemically produced singlet oxygen O2(a) (≡ O2(a Δg)) and I2 molecules. As a result I2 is dissociated to I atoms which are subsequently pumped to the upper, lasing level ) P I( 1/2 2 by energy transfer from O2(a). Since O2(a) is the energy reservoir of the COIL, the laser output power strongly depends on its consumption for dissociation of I2. Hence, model predictions of the COIL power depend on the mechanism of I2 dissociation in the COIL employed in the modeling. Despite many efforts the dissociation mechanism is still not well understood. Until recently two main different mechanisms have been applied to describe the I2 dissociation. The first was suggested by Heidner and coworkers and later updated by Perram. In this mechanism (which for brevity will be referred to as Heidner's mechanism) the dissociation is a two-step process. In the first step I2 is excited to high vibrational levels, I2 (≡ 47) v (25 I2 ≤ ≤ ) by the reactions:
Published Version
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