Mode locking of a cw supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser

This paper presents the results of the first mode locking experiments on a supersonic chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). Mode locking has been achieved using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) and lasing demonstrated on the TEM<SUB>00</SUB> modes with a small intracavity aperture. A dc magnetic field was used to increase the number of axial modes and a peak power of 2.5 kW has been reached with a pulse width of 2.1 ns at a repetition rate of 43.68 MHz.