United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Timothy J Madden

Gordon D Hager

Christopher B Cooper

Michael R Berman

Gerald C Manke

Thomas L Henshaw

A continuous wave laser based on the electronic I*(P)&#x2212;I(P) transition of atomic iodine at 1.315 microns from the NCl(a&#x394;)+I(P) energy transfer reaction using a transverse flow device having gas flow from an upstream subsonic combustor section through a converging-diverging supersonic slit nozzle to a downstream supersonic section and an intersecting optical resonator. Laser operation is achieved through the transformation of the gas phase chemical reagents, D(deuterium), F(fluorine), NF(nitrogen trifluoride), DCl (deuterium chloride) HI (hydrogen iodide) in the subsonic section and HN(hydrogen azide) in the supersonic section.

Supersonic all gas-phase iodine laser

An all gas phase iodine cw laser operating on the electronic I( P )&minus;I*( P ) transition of atomic iodine at 1.315 &mgr;m was described. The laser is based on the energy transfer reaction between metastable NCl(a &Dgr;) and ground state I( P ) atoms. This all gas phase laser has a number of advantages over previous aqueous-based chemical oxygen iodine lasers, including lighter weight, zero-gravity operation, and heat rejection in the exhaust.

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Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

Timothy J Madden