Chemical Laser System Research Articles

Vibrational Energy Distribution through Chemical Laser Studies. II. Fluorine Atoms plus Chloroform

Laser emission by HF from the UF6–CCl3H chemical laser system and by DF from the UF6–CCl3D system has been studied, the latter by the equal-gain temperature technique. For HF, υ = 2 → 1 and 3 → 2 transitions were observed, with P2–1(3) reaching threshold first at room temperature. For DF, υ = 2 → 1, 3 → 2, and 4 → 3 transitions were observed, with P3–2(4) reaching threshold first at room temperature. The abstraction reaction F+CCl3H(CCl3D) is about 8 kcal more exothermic than the corresponding methane reaction, which accounts for the appearance of the higher υ transitions. The DF zero-pressure, equal-gain temperature of 386 ± 10°K establishes k3 / k2 = 1.54, the same, within experimental uncertainty, as that observed for the less exothermic F+CD4 reaction.

Investigations of an unstable confocal resonator on a chemical laser system

Preliminary experimental results are reported on the successful mating of an unstable confocal resonator with an HF chemical laser.

Infrared emission from the reaction of atomic fluorine with hydrogen chloride - a possible new chemical laser system

Infrared emission has been observed from hydrogen fluoride formed in the reaction of atomic fluorine with hydrogen chloride in a fast-flow apparatus at 100 mtorr. Analysis of the data indicates that there is a vibrational level population inversion with N 2/ N 1 ≈ 1.5 and N 3/ N 2 ≈ 0.15.

Vibrational Energy Distribution through Chemical Laser Studies. I. Fluorine Atoms plus Hydrogen or Methane

A new method is described for determining the energy distribution among the product vibrational energy levels in an exothermic reaction. By careful control of the rotational temperature in the UF6–H2(D2) and UF6–CH4(CD4) chemical laser systems, one can obtain conditions for which two hydrogen fluoride vibration–rotation transitions initiate simultaneously and with the same gain. From the relationship between relative gain, rotational temperature, and the vibrational populations, an accurate value can be determined for the ratio of the populations Nυ / Nυ−1 of the two states involved in the first transition to reach laser threshold. This ratio equals kυ/kυ−1 after vibrational deactivation has been taken into account. This technique has yielded the following rate-constant ratios:F + H2→limυHFυ† + H, k2 / k1∼5.5 F + D2→limυDFυ† + D, k3 / k2∼1.6. The significant observations are that the rate-constant ratios are all above unity, the hydrogen and methane values are very close to each other, and the DF ratios are much closer to unity than their HF counterparts.