Scaling laws for pulsed chain-reaction chemical lasers
Abstract
Scaling laws for pulsed chain-reaction chemical lasers are deduced with the use of a two-level vibrational model. The performance of a saturated laser depends only on the parameter K = t sub cd/t sub p, where t sub cd and t sub p are the characteristic collisional deactivation and characteristic pumping times, respectively. The normalized output energy per unit volume per pulse of a saturated HF chain-reaction laser is 2E/Epsilon H sub 2,0 = K(1 + 0(K)), where E is output energy per unit volume per pulse, Epsilon is energy per mole of photons, and H sub 2, 0 is the initial concentration of H sub 2 in moles per unit volume. In the range 0.02 < or = thi << 1 the normalized output energy from a saturated HF laser can be expressed as 2E/Epsilon H sub 2, 0 = thi, where thi approx. = (F/F sub 2) sub 0 1/2(F sub 2/H sub 2)0(1 + 0.094(F sub 2/H sub 2) sub 0) to the minus 1/2 power. In the latter regime the product Et sub e is a constant for a saturated laser (t sub e = pulse length). Corrections for multiple vibrational levels are given in an Appendix.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- August 1981
- Bibcode:
- 1981STIN...8212436M
- Keywords:
-
- Chemical Lasers;
- Dimensional Analysis;
- Pulsed Lasers;
- Scaling Laws;
- Chemical Reactions;
- Hydrofluoric Acid;
- Photons;
- Reaction Kinetics;
- Vibration;
- Lasers and Masers