Chemical generation of a population inversion between the spin-orbit states of atomic iodine

Abstract

When I2 is injected into a stream of chemically produced O*2(1Δg), electronically excited iodine atoms [I* (52P1/2)] are created. For suitably high O*2/O2 ratios, a population inversion is established between the 52P1/2 and 52P3/2 atomic states of iodine. The inversion was observed using an optical double-resonance technique.