Investigation of the characteristics of the preamplifier stages of a short-pulse iodine laser

Measurements were made of the amplification cross section at the frequency of the F' = 3→F = 4 transition. The luminescence line broadening and shift due to different buffer gases were determined. The magnitude and lifetime of the population inversion were investigated. The relaxation time of the level populations of the excited ²P_1/2 state of atomic iodine was determined experimentally. An analysis was made of the amplifier energy characteristics. The conditions were determined for the generation of highcontrast nanosecond optical pulses having energies of approximately 10 J and a directionality close to the diffraction limit, subject to pumping by xenon flashlamps with flash durations of several hundred microseconds.