Karol Waichman

Toward understanding the dissociation of I2 in chemical oxygen-iodine lasers: Combined experimental and theoretical studies

The dissociation of I2 molecules at the optical axis of a supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) was studied via detailed measurements and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics calculations. The measurements, briefly reported in a recent paper [Rybalkin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 021115 (2006)] and reanalyzed in detail here, revealed that the number N of consumed O2(aΔg1) molecules per dissociated I2 molecule depends on the experimental conditions: it is 4.5±0.4 for typical conditions and I2 densities applied for optimal operation of the COIL but increases at lower I2 densities. Comparing the measurements and the calculations enabled critical examination of previously proposed dissociation mechanisms and suggestion of a mechanism consistent with the experimental and theoretical results obtained in a supersonic COIL for the gain, temperature, I2 dissociation fraction, and N at the optical axis. The suggested mechanism combines the recent scheme of Azyazov and Heaven [AIAA J. 44, 1593 (2...

Power enhancement in chemical oxygen-iodine lasers by iodine predissociation via corona/glow discharge

The gain and power in a supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) are enhanced by applying dc corona/glow discharge in the transonic section of the secondary flow in the supersonic nozzle, dissociating I2 prior to its mixing with O2(Δ1). The loss of O2(Δ1) consumed for dissociation is thus reduced, and the consequent dissociation rate downstream of the discharge increases, resulting in up to 80% power enhancement. The implication of this method for COILs operating beyond the specific conditions reported here is assessed.

Comparing modeling and measurements of the output power in chemical oxygen-iodine lasers: a stringent test of I2 dissociation mechanisms.

A parametric study of the output power of supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine lasers (COILs) is carried out, applying a kinetic-fluid dynamics model calculations as well as an analytical model and comparing the results to experimental studies. The I(2) dissociation mechanism recently suggested by Azyazov et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 130, 104306 (2009)], which was previously used for comparison of model calculations to measurements of the small signal gain [K. Waichman et al., J. Appl. Phys. 106, 063108 (2009)], is applied here for a similar, but more sensitive, comparison of the laser output power. The dependence of the power on iodine flow rate and on mirror transmission is studied for low and high pressure COILs, respectively. Good agreement between the calculated and measured power is obtained for both low and high pressure COILs only when the processes suggested by Azyazov et al. are included in the calculations. This is different from the situation for the gain where for high pressure COILs, the calculated values were insensitive to the assumed dissociation mechanism, although for low pressure the measurements were reproduced only by applying the Azyazov et al. mechanism. We believe that the results of the present work strongly support the application of this mechanism for modeling the COIL operation.

Kinetic-fluid dynamics modeling of I2 dissociation in supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine lasers

The mechanism of I2 dissociation in supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine lasers (COILs) is studied applying kinetic-fluid dynamics modeling, where pathways involving the excited species I2(X Σ1g+,10≤v<25), I2(X Σ1g+,25≤v≤47), I2(A′ Π32u), I2(A Π31u), O2(X Σ3g−,v), O2(a Δ1g,v), O2(b Σ1g+,v), and I(P21/2) as intermediate reactants are included. The gist of the model is adding the first reactant and reducing the contribution of the second as compared to previous models. These changes, recently suggested by Azyazov, et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 130, 104306 (2009)], significantly improve the agreement with the measurements of the gain in a low pressure supersonic COIL for all I2 flow rates that have been tested in the experiments. In particular, the lack of agreement for high I2 flow rates, which was encountered in previous models, has been eliminated in the present model. It is suggested that future modeling of the COIL operation should take into account the proposed contribution of the above mentioned reactants.

Kinetic and fluid dynamic processes in diode pumped alkali lasers: semi-analytical and 2D and 3D CFD modeling

In the last four years, a few research groups worked on the feasibility of compressive sampling (CS) in ultrasound medical imaging and several attempts of applying the CS theory may be found in the recent literature. In particular, it was shown that using iotap-norm minimization with p different from 1 provides interesting RF signal reconstruction results. In this paper, we propose to further improve this technique by processing the reconstruction in the Fourier domain. In addition, alpha -stable distributions are used to model the Fourier transforms of the RF lines. The parameter p used in the optimization process is related to the parameter alpha obtained by modelling the data (in the Fourier domain) as an alpha -stable distribution. The results obtained on experimental US images show significant reconstruction improvement compared to the previously published approach where the reconstruction was performed in the spatial domain.

Semi-analytical and 3D CFD DPAL modeling: feasibility of supersonic operation

The feasibility of operating diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) with supersonic expansion of the gaseous laser mixture, consisting of alkali atoms, He atoms and (frequently) hydrocarbon molecules, is explored. Taking into account fluid dynamics and kinetic processes, both semi-analytical and three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of supersonic DPALs is reported. Using the semi-analytical model, the operation of supersonic DPALs is compared with that measured and modeled in subsonic lasers for both Cs and K. The maximum power of supersonic Cs and K lasers is found to be higher than that of subsonic lasers with the same resonator and alkali density at the laser inlet by 25% and 70%, respectively. Using the 3D CFD model, the flow pattern and spatial distributions of the pump and laser intensities in the resonator are calculated for Cs DPALs. Comparison between the semi-analytical and 3D CFD models for Cs shows that the latter predicts much larger maximum achievable laser power than the former. These results indicate that for scaling-up the power of DPALs, supersonic expansion should be considered.

How many O2(Δ1) molecules are consumed per dissociated I2 in chemical oxygen-iodine lasers?

Direct measurements of the dissociation of I2 molecules at the optical axis of a supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) as a function of I2 flow rate were carried out. This enabled us to determine the number of consumed O2(Δ1) molecules per dissociated I2 molecule. The number depends on the experimental conditions: it is 4.2±0.4 for typical conditions and I2 densities applied for the operation of the COIL, but increases at lower I2 densities. Possible dissociation mechanisms consistent with our results are discussed and the importance of dissociating I2 prior to its mixing with O2(Δ1) is stressed.

Laser power, cell temperature, and beam quality dependence on cell length of static Cs DPAL

The influence of cell length of a static diode-pumped Cs laser on laser power, gain medium temperature, and laser beam quality is studied theoretically using a 3D time-dependent computational fluid dynamics model where Gaussian spatial shapes of the pump and laser intensities in any cross section of the beams are assumed. Reasonable agreement with power measurements in a static diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) with 20 mm cell length [Electron. Lett.44, 582 (2008)ELLEAK0013-519410.1049/el:20080728] is obtained. It is shown that the gain medium temperature rise caused by the pump beam absorption can be decreased by increasing the length of the alkali cell and that, for given conditions, there is an optimal cell length corresponding to maximum laser power. At ∼100  W pump power the optimum cell length of ∼50−60  mm is larger than the 20 mm length usually used in DPAL experiments. The increase of the cell length from 20 to 60 mm results in decrease of the gain medium temperature rise by 100–150°K, making it possible to avoid degradation of the laser power due to chemical reactions in the gain medium. Laser beam quality in terms of Strehl ratio was calculated as a function of pump power and length of the DPAL cell and found to decrease as the DPAL cell length is increased. It is shown that the wavefront corrections result in substantial increase of the Strehl ratio and hence in improvement of the laser beam quality.

CFD assisted simulation of temperature distribution and laser power in pulsed and CW pumped static gas DPALs

An analysis of radiation, kinetic and fluid dynamic processes in diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) is reported. The analysis is based on a three-dimensional, time-dependent computational fluid dynamics (3D CFD) model. The CFD code which solves the gas conservation equations includes effects of natural convection and temperature diffusion of the species in the DPAL mixture. The gas flow conservation equations are coupled to the equations for DPAL kinetics and to the Beer-Lambert equations for pump and laser beams propagation. The DPAL kinetic processes in the Cs/CH4 (K/He) gas mixtures considered involve the three low energy levels, (1) n2S1/2, (2) n2P3/2 and (3) n2P1/2 (where n=4,6 for K and Cs, respectively), three excited alkali states and two alkali ionic states. Using the CFD model, the gas flow pattern and spatial distributions of the pump and laser intensities in the resonator were calculated for end-pumped CW and pulsed Cs and K DPALs. The DPAL power and medium temperature were calculated as a function of pump power and pump pulse duration. The CFD model results were compared to experimental results of Cs and K DPALs.

What can we gain from supersonic operation of diode pumped alkali lasers: model calculations

We explore the feasibility of supersonic operation of diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) applying model calculations. The power and efficiency of Cs and K atoms DPALs are estimated based on a semi-analytical model previously used for studying static and subsonic flow DPALs. The operation of supersonic lasers is compared with that measured and modeled in subsonic lasers. The maximum power of supersonic Cs and K lasers is found to be higher than that of subsonic lasers with the same resonator and alkali density at the laser inlet by 25% and 70%, respectively. These results indicate that for scaling-up the power of DPALs, supersonic expansion should be considered. Work in progress applying three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of supersonic DPALs is also reported.