Ion kinetics study of a high-efficiency, high-energy hydrogen fluoride chain chemical laser initiated by an intense electron beam

Abstract

The operational characteristics of intense electron-beam (e-beam) initiated hydrogen fluoride (HF) chain chemical lasers were theoretically analyzed with a new computer code including both neutral and ionic reactions. The gas mixture used is F2/H2/SF6/O2. Both theoretical HF laser output energy and pulse width were in good agreement with those of the experiment. Using this code, we calculated the performance characteristics as a function of e-beam current pulse width, initial total gas pressure, H2 partial pressure, O2 partial pressure, and gas temperature. In order to optimize the total gas pressure, we introduced a new parameter which shows the effect of the pressure rise by the exothermic chemical reactions. The optimum total gas pressure of 850 Torr was predicted in our system. Moreover, by lowering the initial gas temperature from 300 to 220 K both the output energy and the chemical efficiency were improved.