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A chemical H2–F2 laser (oscillator and amplifier) initiated by means of IR radiative excitation of vibrational levels of HF molecules is studied under the conditions of development of a thermal-branched chain reaction caused by thermal dissociation of gaseous additions to the laser mixture. It is shown that, using F2SO3 addition at a partial pressure of 40 Torr, an H2–F2 laser with a mixture pressure of 1~bar initiated by a pulsed hydrogen fluorine laser can provide an output exceeding 120–200 J/liter in 20–50 ns laser pulses.

A chemical H{sub 2} - F{sub 2} laser initiated by IR radiation through vibrational excitation of HF molecules is studied theoretically under the conditions of a branched thermal-chain reaction caused by the thermal dissociation of gaseous additions to the laser mixture. It is demonstrated that, using the F{sub 2}SO{sub 3} addition at a partial pressure of 40 Torr, the H{sub 2} - F{sub 2} laser with a mixture pressure of 1 bar, initiated by a pulse of a hydrogen - fluorine laser can provide the output exceeding 200 J litre{sup -1} in 20-ns laser pulses. (lasers)

An H{sub 2} - F{sub 2} amplifier initiated by radiation from a pulsed hydrogen fluoride laser is studied theoretically. Numerical calculations are made by taking into account the inhomogeneity of the initial HF concentration appearing upon preparation of the laser mixture in experiments. The mean theoretical output energy for the H{sub 2}:F{sub 2}:O{sub 2}: He = 100:600:30:100-Torr mixture is about 15 JL{sup -1} for an average initial pressure of hydrogen fluoride equal to 0.5 Torr along the amplifier axis. The results of calculations show that, if a sufficiently homogeneous medium is obtained in experiments, lasing becomes possible according to the kinetic scheme of initiation proposed for the H{sub 2} - F{sub 2} laser. (laser applications and other topics in quantum electronics)

Characteristics of a chemical H2—F2 laser initiated by resonant vibrational excitation of HF molecules upon the development of a thermal chain branching reaction are theoretically studied. After the addition of N2F2 or F2SO3 molecules with partial pressure of 20 Torr to the HF: H2: F2: O2: He = 0.5: 76: 228: 23: 100-Torr mixture, a specific output energy of a hydrogen fluoride laser initiated by a 2-μs pulse from an H2—F2 laser with the energy density of 0.01–10 J cm-2 amounted to 30–60 J litre-1, exceeding the specific initiation energy by a factor of 100 —4000.

An H2 - F2 amplifier initiated by radiation from a pulsed hydrogen fluoride laser is studied theoretically. Numerical calculations are made by taking into account the inhomogeneity of initial HF concentration appearing upon preparation of the laser mixture in experiments. The dependence of the specific laser output energy from a distance x from the radiation input to the amplifier medium for mixture H2:F2:O2:He = 100:600:30:100 Torr is obtained. Change of initial pressure of HF molecules in the mixture on the distance x was described by the expression po + C sin(2πx/d ), where Po = 0.1 - 0.5 Torr, d = 10 - 20 cm, C is the amplitude of deviation of HF pressure from its mean value. The theoretical specific output energy periodically depends on x according to the law of change of pressure HF. The energy gain (ratio of the energies of the output and initiating laser radiation) is equal to 5 for an amplification length 4 m at po = 0.1 Torr and C /po = 5%.© (2004) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.