Continuously operating photodissociation laser with cyclic circulation of gaseous trifluoromethyl iodide

Continuous-wave operation of an iodine photodissociation laser with cyclic circulation of gaseous trifluoromethyl iodide is reported. For the optimal gas flow velocity and optimal extraction of radiation from the resonator an estimate is made of the irreversible loss of active gas molecules per unit emitted energy. This is less than 0.01 of the gas consumption for a cw iodine chemical laser.