HF chemical lasers ignited by CO/sub 2/-laser irradiation

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6933304

Cummings, J C

A pulsed CO/sub 2/ laser was used to ignite mixtures of SF/sub 6/:H/sub 2/ and S/sub 2/F/sub 10/:H/sub 2/. The chemical reactions initiated by the CO/sub 2/ laser produce vibrationally-excited HF which were observed to lase when an optical resonator was constructed around the reaction cell. The HF-lasing performance of these gas mixtures as a function of mixture ratio, pressure, and several CO/sub 2/-laser parameters (frequency, fuence, and pulse duration) are compared. Under comparable conditions, the HF-laser output for S/sub 2/F/sub 10/:H/sub 2/ mixtures was approx. 6 times greater than that for SF/sub 6/:H/sub 2/ mixtures. Two results were observed that are not fully understood at present: First, the HF-laser output for S/sub 2/F/sub 10/:H/sub 2/ mixtures increased linearly with CO/sub 2/-laser fluence, reached a maximum value, and then decreased - this decrease may be due to excessive heating of the gases. Second, variations in CO/sub 2/-laser frequency indicated that the frequency for maximum HF-laser energy from S/sub 2/F/sub 10/:H/sub 2/ mixtures was blue-shifted with respect to the peak absorption frequency for S/sub 2/F/sub 10/ - this may be due to significant SF/sub 5/ absorption of the CO/sub 2/-laser radiation.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6933304
• Report Number(s): SAND-81-0218C; CONF-801201-10
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
CARBON DIOXIDE LASERS
CHEMICAL LASERS
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GAS LASERS
INFORMATION
LASERS
NUMERICAL DATA
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE TESTING
TESTING
USES