Internal losses in an iodine photodissociation laser with pulsed flashlamp pumping

Theoretical and experimental investigations are reported of the internal losses in an iodine photodissociation laser with pulsed flashlamp pumping. The losses caused by an induced optical inhomogeneity of the medium were found to be of local nature. The dependence of the internal loss coefficient k_l on the transverse coordinate in the laser chamber was determined. An estimate of this coefficient was obtained for the case of lasing under "pyrolysis wave" conditions and the result was k_l ≤ (1–2)×10^–4 cm^–1 .