Atmospheric‐pressure H2‐F2laser initiated by electron‐beam‐irradiated discharge

摘要

Initial performance of an electric‐discharge‐initiated chemical laser pumped by the H2‐F2chain reaction is presented. Uniform microsecond‐scale discharges in atmospheric‐pressure laser mixtures have been obtained after a short‐duration ionizing pulse of high‐energy electrons. Care in discharge pulse shaping is required to avoid late‐time arcs. Informaiton is presented on the effects of several parameters on laser performance. With a 3 H2 : 6 F2 : 54 He : 37 Ar mixture as much as 28 J/liter of discharge energy could be deposited in the mixture, and laser energies up to 42 J/liter were obtained. This corresponds to a chemical efficiency of 6.3, based on the H2content, and an electrical ’’efficiency’’ of 148, based on the available lasing volume and total energy input to the medium.