Initial performance of a cw chemical laser

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1970

OSTI ID:7195393

Spencer, D J; Mirels, H; Jacobs, T A

Performance of a continuous HF chemical laser is described. Population inversion was obtained by diffusion of H/sub 2/ into a supersonic jet containing F atoms (H/sub 2/ + F ..-->.. HF(v) + H, ..delta..H = -31.7 kcal/mole). A peak power of 630 W was obtained with an F atom flow rate of 0.040 mole/sec. The efficiency of conversion of chemical energy to laser energy was 12 percent. Performance of a corresponding DF laser is also given. Major laser output is from 2-1 and 1-0 transitions for both lasers. Radiation is at 2.6 to 2.9 ..mu.. and 3.6 to 4.0 ..mu.. for the HF and DF lasers, respectively. The ratio of DF to HF laser power is 0.7 under similar flow conditions.

• Research Organization: Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7195393
• Report Number(s): AD-707518
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
CHEMICAL LASERS
EFFICIENCY
FLUID FLOW
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
LASERS
PERFORMANCE
POPULATION INVERSION
SUPERSONIC FLOW