PULSED HIGH-FREQUENCY OVERTONE CHEMICAL LASER STUDIES

OPERATION OF HYDROGEN FLUORIDE(HF) CHEMICAL LASERS ON OVERTONE TRANSITIONS (OTS) HAS THE PROMISE OF LEADING TO EFFICIENT, HIGH POWER LASER DEVICES AT SHORT WAVELENGTHS. AN OT LASER EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN A PHOTOLYTICALLY INITIATED PULSED LASER IS BEING UNDERTAKEN. THIS APPROACH IS ANTICIPATED TO REMOVE TWO CONTINUOUS WAVE (CW) OT EXPERIMENTAL LIMITATIONS: SHORT SINGLE-DEVICE GAIN LENGTH AND MEDIUM NONUNIFORMITY. THUS THE APPROACH IS EXPECTED TO ALLOW THE UNAMBIGUOUS STUDY OF ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH OT LASERS WITH THEIR LOW ZERO POWER GAIN. THIS WOULD INCLUDE ACCURATE EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISONS OF THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS (LOW POWER THROUGH HIGHLY SATURATED) OF A PULSED HF CHAIN REACTION CHEMICAL LASER WHEN OPERATING ONLY ON FUNDAMENTAL TRANSITIONS (DELTA V=1) AND ONLY ON FIRST OVERTONE TRANSITIONS (DELTA V=2), AND EXPERIMENTALLY DETERMINE RESONATOR LENGTH LIMITATIONS ON OT PULSED LASER OPERATION CAUSED BY SUPER RADIANT LASING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TRANSITION MECHANISM. IN THE CURRENT EFFORT, THE DETAILED DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEST CAPABILITIES IS BEING UNDERTAKEN, INCLUDING IDENTIFICATION OF TEST SERIES GROUPS AND DESIGN OF THE LASER TEST FACILITY, AND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS, INSTRUMENTS, AND TECHNIQUES.