The measurement of gain in a supersonic, combustion-driven generator for NCl(a1Δ)

The measurement of positive small signal gain on the 1.315 micron spin orbit transition of atomic iodine following energy transfer from chemically generated NCl(a1Δ) is reported. Previous instances of gain produced by energy transfer from NCl(a1Δ) used DC discharges to generate F and Cl atoms; this report describes recent progress towards a true chemical laser device which uses a high temperature chemical combustor and a supersonic reactor to generate NCl(a1Δ). These improvements represent a significant step towards the development and demonstration of a scalable All Gas-phase Iodine Laser (AGIL) device.

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