Carbon dioxide laser media consisting of combustion products of fuels low in nitrogen

Abstract

An experimental investigation was made of the dependence of the optical gain K0 on the pressure and temperature in the prenozzle zone in a CO2 gasdynamic laser utilizing combustion products of model fuels with low nitrogen content: the atomic fraction of N was ξN = 0.4. The experiments were carried out in the following gas pressure and temperature ranges in the prenozzle chamber: p = 4–25 atm, T = 1300–2300 °K. When this pressure and temperature were reduced there was a significant reduction in the range of conditions under which lasing was possible in media with ξN = 0.4. Mixtures of combustion products with relatively high values of K0 were formed as a result of burning of fuels characterized by an oxidizer excess coefficient differing from unity.