Suppression of stimulated enthalpy scattering of radiation from an iodine laser by introduction of quenching impurities into the active medium

Experiments demonstrated that the addition of water vapor to the active medium of an iodine laser made it possible to suppress effectively the stimulated enthalpy scattering and the associated instability of the radiation wavefront at the expense of a small loss in respect of the radiation energy. This opens up the possibility of a significant reduction of the divergence of the radiation emitted by these lasers.