OPERATION OF A CHEMICAL-LASER AS AN AMPLI FIER

An investigation was made of the operation of a chemical laser based o n a photoinitiated chain reaction of fluorine with hydrogen (deuterium ) in a master oscillator-amplifier configuration. The experiments show ed that it was possible to achieve an energy efficiency of similar to 100% in the amplifier. Studies were made of the spectral characteristi cs of the system and the divergence of the radiation was determined. E quations describing quasi-cw operation of a monochromatic laser were f ound to be capable of providing satisfactory quantitative estimates of the energy characteristics of the radiation from this chemical laser operating as an amplifier or in the free-running mode. The estimates a greed with the experimental results when the initiation power was vari ed.