Experimental investigation of internal losses in iodine lasers pumped by ultraviolet radiation from an open high-current discharge

An experimental investigation was made of the internal losses in photodissociation iodine lasers. It was found that refraction losses are the dominant ones, the loss coefficient due to refraction in the laser investigated being $(2-6)\cdot10^{-4}$ cm${}^{-1}$, while that representing volume absorption of the radiation in the active region was less than $10^{-4}$ cm${}^{-1}$. The possibilities are discussed for reducing the internal losses in iodine lasers.