Experimental study of gain and output coupling characteristics of a CW chemical oxygen-iodine laser

Gain and output coupling characteristics of the CW chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) are determined experimentally by means of varying the output coupling method. Under the conditions that the Cl/sub 2/ flow rate is 11.8 mmol/s, the I/sub 2/ molar flow rate is from 20 to 50 mu mol/s, and the duct pressure is 200 Pa, the following were obtained from the experimental data: maximum values of output power of 58 W, and optimal output coupling factor of 1.50%, a resonator efficiency of 4.8%, an unsaturated small-signal gain of 1.55*10/sup -3/ cm/sup -1/, a threshold small-signal gain of 1.31*10/sup -3/ cm/sup -1/, a saturation intensity of 1150 W/cm/sup 2/, intraresonator losses of 9%, and an atomic iodine concentration of 2.85*10/sup 14/ cm/sup -3/. A comparison of these results to the published data of other COIL systems is presented.