Water vapor content in the active medium of an oxygen–iodine chemical laser

An analysis is made of a thermophysical model of a chemical singlet-oxygen generator. It is shown that at the exit from a thermally insulated reaction vessel, the water vapor content is approximately three times the oxygen content. Calculations are made of the water vapor content when the solution is cooled and circulated through the reaction vessel. As the total pressure is increased, the efficiency of purification of the oxygen in a water vapor condensation trap deteriorates strongly. This is one of the reasons for the degradation of the active medium of a cw oxygen–iodine laser with increasing oxygen pressure. For a trap comprising a smooth tube and a thermally insulated reaction vessel, the trap radius R and the oxygen pressure at the exit p'_O2 should satisfy the condition p'_O2 R<12 Torr, so that the laser active zone contains less than 10% of water vapor and no less than 50% of O₂(¹Δ). The oxygen pressure range can be increased by cooling the solution in the reaction vessel.