Modeling of a pulsed HF chemical laser pumped by a VUV radiation source

Abstract

We introduce a numerical investigation of a HF photochemical laser pumped by planar multi-channel sliding discharges to study the possibility of advanced laser characteristic achievment using such pumping source. The model considers transport of VUV pump radiation through the nonlinear absorptive active medium containing NF3/H2/N2/Ar gas mixture coupled with chemical and lasmg kinetics describing the temporal and spatial evolution of particle species and intracavitv lasing photons. The relative importance of various kinetic processes is evaluated and the 3 .2 J/liter laser specific energy is calculated.

Femtosecond filament-driven mid-IR lasing under plasma–chemical reaction in high-pressure mixture SF6 -H2 –Ar

“…It should be noted that argon serves as a reservoir for the energy released in the photodissociation and exothermic chemical processes in order to prevent rise of the active medium temperature. On the other hand, argon is characterized by low quenching rate of the vibrationally excited HF molecules [15].…”