N2O pure chemical cw flame laser

15 July 1973

journal article
research article
Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters

Vol. 23 (2) , 82-84
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1654816

Abstract

We report the first observation of laser amplification and oscillation in a continuously operating flame with N₂O as the optically active species. Outputs have been observed at five wavelengths in the 001–100 vibrational‐rotational band of N₂O when excited by the Na‐catalyzed combustion of N₂O with CO in a coaxial flow laser cavity. At the equivalent wavelengths in CO₂ neither significant gain nor absorption was observed although CO₂ is formed as a reaction product. The performance of the N₂O chemically driven laser is compared to that of an electrical discharge flow laser, where N₂O is mixed with vibrationally excited N₂ in the same laser cavity and flow system. It was found that a large fraction of the chemical heat release is available for N₂O laser pumping.

Keywords

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:

Experimental studies of a potential pure chemical CO₂ laser
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1973
DF–CO2 AND HF–CO2 CONTINUOUS-WAVE CHEMICAL LASERS
Applied Physics Letters, 1969
Chemiluminescence of the Sodium or Sodium Halide Catalyzed Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide by Nitrous Oxide¹
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1950