Supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser with X-shaped streamwise vortex Generator

High-throughput operation of a supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) is achieved with an advanced mixing nozzle. The mixing nozzle consists of a staggered arrangement of thin wedges lying across the flow duct, and looks like the letter "X" when it is viewed from the side. A 32.9% chemical efficiency is measured experimentally with this nozzle and buffer-gas precooling. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations are conducted to understand the rapid mixing capability of the nozzle. A series of streamwise vortices generated by the alternating wedges greatly enhances the mixing process in the supersonic stream and the rapid formation of the gain medium. The temperature and Mach number of the flow field are estimated from the gain-profile measurement of the I (/sup 2/P/sub 1/2/) to I (/sup 2/P/sub 3/2/) transition. Good agreement with the CFD calculations is seen.