Historical Perspective of COIL

摘要

The oxygen-iodine laser was the first electronic transition chemical laser. It first lased 25 years ago at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory (now the Air Force Research Laboratory). The development started several years earlier and involved the support of many people in the laser community. I would like to describe the early thoughts, insights and even misconceptions that we had in the early days. I will also highlight the contributions of many of the people and organizations that contributed to the early development of the COIL laser.