The optical gain behind an axisymmetric shock wave

The present analysis is carried out for the flow of a relaxing gas mixture behind an axisymmetric detonation wave propagating in a gas at rest contained in a cylinder of finite radius. In the gas dynamic scheme of population inversion, adopted in the present paper, a particle of the gas at rest is entrained and heated by the shock. Behind the shock front, the translational temperature of the particle decreases, leading (as in the case of supersonic nozzle flow) to population inversion. The dependence of the gain on the principal parameters of the problem is studied for a CO2-N2-He mixture, with allowance for back pressure.