Detection of vibrationally excited O2 in the active medium of a chemical oxygen-iodine laser

The presence of vibrationally excited oxygen in the active medium of a chemical oxygen - iodine laser is discovered using the emission technique. Using the analysis of the luminescence spectra of oxygen molecules on O 2(b1 Σg+, v = i) → O 2(X3 Σg-, v′ = i) (i = 0, 1, 2) electronic vibrational-rotational transitions, it is shown that ∼ 22% of O2(b1 Σg+) molecules are at the first vibrational level and ∼ 10% are at the second one. Moreover, due to the fast EE energy exchange, a mean number of vibrational quanta per one molecule in each of the O2(X3 Σ g-), O2(a1Δg) and O2(b1 Σg+ components is approximately the same and amounts to 30%-40%.