Investigation of the process of formation of oxygen-containing products as a result of multiphoton dissociation of SF6by radiation from a high-power pulsed CO2laser

Abstract

The relative yields of sulfur oxyfluorides SOF4, SOF2, and SO2F2 formed by multiphoton dissociation of SF6 in Ar:SF6 = 1:5 and Ar:SF6:O2 = 1:5:50 mixtures were determined at a partial SF6 pressure of 0.2 Torr for various energy densities of CO2 laser radiation. It was found that the addition of 2 Torr O2 to the Ar–SF6 mixture enhanced selective dissociation of SF6 and increased 20-fold the coefficient representing separation of the 32S and 34S isotopes in SOF4, and also altered the relative yields of all the sulfur oxyfluorides. The results obtained were used to propose a chemical reaction scheme occurring in the system in the presence of oxygen in the Ar–SF6 mixture and also in the absence of oxygen. This scheme accounted for the appearance of the products and for the changes in the relative yields of SOF4, SOF2, and SO2F2 on addition of oxygen.