Small-signal gain and saturation parameter of a transverse-flow CW oxygen-iodine laser

The small-signal gain and saturation parameter of a transverse-flow CW oxygen-iodine laser have been experimentally obtained for the first time from output power measurements made as a function of the cavity losses without using a CW probe laser. These measurements typically yield <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">α₀ 0.045</tex> m -1 and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Iₛ 0.44</tex> kW/cm 2 for a Cl <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> flow rate of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1.4 × 10⁻³</tex> mol/s with an I <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> flow rate of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4 × 10⁻⁶</tex> mol/s. The dependences of the small-signal gain and saturation parameter have been also found on the Cl <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> flow rate. These behaviors are qualitatively explained by a simple two-level model.