Characteristics of radiation from a supersonic flow chemical oxygen-iodinelaser

The flow and optical fields of a supersonic flow chemical oxygen-iodine las er are simulated by solving the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations a s well as the paraxial wave equation, and the laser power extraction charac teristics are studied. The present results show that considerable flow nonu niformity remains in the optical resonator. Therefore, the effects of refra ction caused by flow nonuniformity on the near-field and far-field patterns of radiative flux, and the laser power are evaluated using an actual nonun iform flow and an equivalent uniform flow. The mixing between O-2((1)Delta) and I-2 in the present condition is fairly satisfactory from the viewpoint of power extraction characteristics. It is also shown that the present sim ulation overestimates the small signal gain coefficient and the output lase r power to some extent. It is thought, however, that the calculation predic ts the extremely complicated phenomenon in S-COIL fairly well in spite of t he many assumptions used in the present study.