Efficient pulsed chemical laser

Abstract

Output pulse observations are presented for a helium-diluted CO2 laser pumped by VV (vibration-vibration) energy transfer from vibrationally excited DF produced by the D2–F2 chain reaction. Flash photolysis of the F2 served to initiate the reaction. A 290-cm3 reaction chamber containing a 0.5-atm mixture with mole ratio D2:F2:CO2:He = 0.33:1:8:10 gave a single-pulse output energy of 2.8 J. Relative to the amount of D2 present in the reaction chamber, this corresponds to a chemical efficiency greater than 5%.