Chemical oxygen-iodine laser investigations in Israel

We report on diagnostic measurements in a small scale supersonic chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) with transonic mixing. Using diode laser based diagnostics we measured the O2(1(Delta) ) yield and water vapor fraction at the exit of a jet type singlet oxygen generator (JSOG) and the gain in the resonator. In addition the chlorine utilization and gas temperature at the generator exit were measured. For conditions corresponding to the maximum chemical efficiency of the supersonic COIL energized by the JSOG the O2(1(Delta) ) yield, water vapor fraction, chlorine utilization and temperature at the generator exit are 0.65, 0.08, 0.92 and 30 C. Small signal gain and temperature at the resonant optical axis are 0.25%/cm and 280 K, respectively. Dependence of the yield on the generator pressure and variation of the temperature along the flow in the diagnostic cell are consistent with rate constant of the O2(1(Delta) ) energy pooling reaction of 2.7 X 10-17 cm3s-1.