Generation and amplification of nanosecond pulses by iodine lasers

Results are reported of experimental investigations of high-power photodissociation iodine laser pumped by lamps and by radiation from high-current electric discharges. The basic parameters of the working medium, the parameters of both lamp-pumped and discharge-pumped lasers, and methods of shaping of a short pulse with diffraction directivity of the radiation are investigated. The possibility of effective amplification of a short pulse by an iodine amplifier pumped with an open high-current discharge is demonstrated. An iodine laser generating a pulse of duration I nsec, divergence 10^-4 rad, and energy 100 J at a contrast 10⁸ and 300 J at a contrast 10²–10³ is described.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. N. Lebedeva, Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 125, 46–103, 1980.