INITIAL PERFORMANCE OF A CW CHEMICAL LASER,

Abstract

Performance of a continuous HF chemical laser is presented. Population inversion was obtained by diffusion of H2 into a supersonic jet containing F atoms (H2 + F yields 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%. 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 microns and 3.6 to 4.0 microns for the HF and DF lasers, respectively. The ratio of DF to HF laser power is 0.7 under similar flow conditions. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1970
Accession Number
AD0707518

Entities

People

  • Donald J. Spencer
  • Harold Mirels
  • Theodore A. Jacobs

Organizations

  • The Aerospace Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Lasers
  • Deuterium Fluoride Lasers
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Flow Rate
  • Hydrogen Fluoride Lasers
  • Lasers
  • Light (Electromagnetic Radiation)
  • Peak Power
  • Power
  • Radiation

Fields of Study

  • Engineering
  • Physics

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers
  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flight