New Concepts of the Chemistry of Electric-Discharge Oxygen-Iodine Lasers

The chemistry of electric discharge driven oxygen iodine lasers (EOIL) has long been believed to have O 2 (a 1 ug) as the sole energy carrier for excitation of the lasing state I( 2 P 1/2 ), and O( 3 P) as the primary quencher of this state. In many sets of experimental measurements over a wide range of conditions, we have observed persistent evidence to the contrary. In this paper, we review our experimental data base in both room-temperature discharge-flow measurements and EOIL reactor results, in comparison to model predictions and kinetics analysis, to identify the missing production and loss terms in the EOIL reaction mechanism. The analysis points to a significantly higher level of understanding of this energetic chemical system, which can support advanced concepts in power scaling investigations.