Tetrafluoroethylene as a fuel component for an atomic fluorine generator of a supersonic continuous-wave chemical HF laser

Abstract

A cheap and widely accessible combination (one of non-saturated perfluorocarbons), i.e. C2F4 tetrafluoroethylene, is proposed as an alternative fuel component for an atomic fluorine generator of a supersonic cw chemical HF laser of self-contained type. Combustion products of the hypergolic F2 – C2F4 – He mixture do not contain active relaxants of vibrationally excited HF(v) molecules. According to estimates, the atomic fluorine yield under comparable conditions is about 70 % in relation to that of the atomic fluorine generator operating on the F2 – D2 – He mixture which is the ‘basic’ one for a HF laser. The specific power is reduced by 23 % with an improvement in a set of the fuel performance and a significant reduction in the cost of triggering the laser in the course of its bench tests.