Initiation of a pulsed HF laser with a CO2laser-produced plasma

A CO2laser-produced plasma was used to initiate an HF chemical laser. It was found that fluorine atoms produced by the thermal dissociation of CF4in the hot plasma rapidly diffused from the focal volume and chemically reacted with the surrounding hydrogen gas to produce excited HF molecules. Output powers greater than 500 W at 2.79 μm and small-signal gains greater than 6 percent/cm at 2.73 μm were observed. This method of chemical laser initiation should be compatible with a wide variety of reaction systems.