A new chemically generated plasma source is reported. The presence of gaseous Rb + or K + ions with thermally dissociated hydrogen formed a low applied temperature, extremely low voltage plasma called a resonant transfer or rt-plasma having strong vacuum ultraviolet emission. We propose an energetic catalytic reaction involving a resonant energy transfer between hydrogen atoms and Rb + or 2K + since Rb + to Rb 2+ , 2K + to K + K 2+ , and K to K 3+ each provide a reaction with a net enthalpy equal to the potential energy of atomic hydrogen. Remarkably, a stationary inverted Lyman population was observed; thus, these catalytic reactions may pump a cw HI laser as predicted by a collisional radiative model used to determine that the observed overpopulation was above threshold.

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A high-pressure field is generated in a circular tube by introducing an unsteady jet from its open end. The head of this jet acts as a piston, driving compression waves ahead of it. The peak value of the induced overpressure is evaluated as a solution of a Riemann problem, wherein the jet head is equivalent to a piston head. The jet head of the driver gas, with a filling pressure of 400 kPa, is equivalent to a piston head moving at 160 m/s. This highpressure generation scheme through the "piston effect" is useful for industrial applications, including filter cleaning in dust collectors, and as an interesting example of unsteady, compressible fluid dynamics.