Context:
It is the future and some sci-fi technologies are starting to be used, such as lasers. More specifically, chemical lasers.
The thing is that I want to know about nowadays technologies in order to elaborate about the future technologies required to make a powerful and portable chemical laser in the future.
The only thing I could find about was the project Boeing YAL-1 which used Chemical oxygen iodine laser to power a megawatt laser.
However, the project itself was cancelled because the laser wasn't able to reach long distances, in this case, more kilometres than a soldier would even dream to hit with any kind of portable/semi-portable weapon.
What I mean as "portable" and "semi-portable" would be from a rifle with a big gas cylinder (for the chemical reaction), to a 50 mm sized weapon and even a truck sized laser.
What I want to make is simply a chemical laser that would be used against infantry. So it needs to be capable of penetrating at least 10 cm in a human body in pulses (because lasers work better in pulses) that could fit inside a quarter of a second in total. More like the damage a bullet would deal in the same period of time, so it is easier to estipulate things.
What I could imagine is that the chemicals would react in a chamber inside the gun, and the laser would get would through the lens (if I understood the Chemical oxygen iodine laser correctly).
The "artillery size" means something as big as a howitzer, but that would be used against infantry. After all, tanks and some planes use ceramics as structure and shielding. Ironically, it is the best defense against heat and kinect weapons, even though lasers are energy weapons.
What I want to know is how much chemical material I would need, for example, could a cylinder the size of a big cigar contain enough chemicals to achieve such energy? Or it would be required to use a cylinder the size of a person?
How big should the lens be to allow the precision of the laser to reach targets up to 300 yards or more?
Should it be chemical-electric hybrid to allow for better field use? Or it already is, taking into consideration the way it would be activated?
Of course, I'm taking into consideration the Chemical oxygen iodine laser that was used in the Boeing YAL-1, because it is the only example that I could find. I don't know if the gas used has enough energetic density to scale it down.