HF repetitively pulsed chemical laser with a large discharge gap operating on the mixture F 2 + H 2

Abstract

The efficient repetitively pulsed (10 Hz) HF chemical laser initiated by barrier electric discharge with electrode gap 10 cm was realised. In mono-pulse mode specific output energy 3 and 23 J/l, technical efficiency (η) 3.4 and 26%, for non-chain and chain process, correspondingly, were obtained. In the repetitively pulsed (RP) mode of the laser operation at 10 Hz on the depleted fluorine-hydrogen mixture (20% F 2 , 5% H 2 ) the mean laser power of 43 W was obtained (specific output energy E/V ~ 10 J/l, η=11.3%). The computational prediction for laser operation in repetitively pulsed mode at active length of about 0.5 m has shown the possibility of achievement of the specific laser energy about 15 J/l and technical efficiency up to 20%. Output laser specific energy ~ 14 J/l under RPCL conditions at length of active medium 0.37 m in mono-pulse mode was obtained in a good agreement with numerical prediction.