Recent study of the discharge oxygen-iodine laser

A decade has passed, since Discharge Oxygen-Iodine Laser (DOIL) research has kicked off in our laboratory. The iodine laser which oscillates with photo dissociation of iodides has been developed for a use in atomic fields as a nuclear fusion driver. It is well known that the ISKRA-5 in Russia has achieved a peak power of 100 TW in the past. The SOFIA project has launched off with the PALS laser system in Czech, which has transferred from Germany named ASTERIX-4 in 1997, aiming to achieve the peak pulse up to 5 PW. On the other hand, the Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser (COIL) which has oscillated at US Air Force in 1978 has now achieved a CW high power up to multi-MW for a use of missile defense. Because of its excellent characteristics, the COIL has also tried to apply for industrial use as a tool for decommissioning. Discussions have been taking place that it is hazardous in this application because the COIL consumes huge volume of chlorine and hydrogen per-oxide under the operation. The DOIL has been developing with the expectation to bypass these COIL problems and to apply for various industrial fields as a high power, good beam quality and optical fiber applicable laser with economical and easy operation discharging system. Recently, not only in our laboratory but also in foreign countries especially in the USA and Russia, the competition towards the world first DOIL oscillation becomes active. (author)