THRESHOLD OSCILLATION OF AN NF(A(1)DELTA) BIF VISIBLE WAVELENGTH CHEMICAL-LASER/

A novel shock tube reactor was used to pulse heat a gaseous mixture of He, FN3, and Bi(CH3)3 along a 40 cm optical path between two highly r eflective mirrors. Production of NF(a1DELTA) by dissociation of the az ide was found to occur in a ''delayed avalanche'' approximately 50 mus after shock reflection, and weak lasing at 470 nm was observed that i s assignable to electronic transitions in the BiF(A-X, DELTAv=3) band.