New concepts are presented to realize a chemical oxygen laser (COL) based on the transition from O₂(¹Δ_g) to O₂ (³Σ_g). The chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) utilizes the energy transfer from the chemically generated O₂(¹Δ_g) to iodine I (²P_3/2) because the stimulated emission cross section of O₂(¹Δ_g) is too small to give a direct oscillation. But since extractable laser energy has no relation to the stimulated emission cross section, a COL has a potential to produce a high energy laser output if it has a long enough active medium to give a positive gain. The intrinsically long upper-state life time enables the storage of large energy, which has a potential give a giant pulsed laser. Since the previous report elucidated the problems 1), the proposed concepts are based on the consideration of them. Also a Q switched COL oscillator is simulated with a rate equation. The simulation results show that a giant pulse of ~0.05ms width can be obtained with the extraction efficiency of 10-20%.

Date Published: 7 October 2014
PDF: 15 pages
Proc. SPIE 9251, Technologies for Optical Countermeasures XI; and High-Power Lasers 2014: Technology and Systems, 92510X (7 October 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2069708

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9251:
Technologies for Optical Countermeasures XI; and High-Power Lasers 2014: Technology and Systems
David H. Titterton; Willy L. Bohn; Harro Ackermann; Mark A. Richardson; Robert J. Grasso, Editor(s)