Theory of energy gain in a laser-amplifier based on a photon-branched chain reaction: Auto-wave amplification mode under the condition of input signal focusing
Rr. Letfullin et Tf. George, Theory of energy gain in a laser-amplifier based on a photon-branched chain reaction: Auto-wave amplification mode under the condition of input signal focusing, J APPL PHYS, 88(7), 2000, pp. 3824-3831
Huge energy gain is detected theoretically in a pulsed chemical laser ampli
fier based on a photon-branched chain reaction initiating in a gaseous disp
erse medium composed of H-2-F-2-O-2-He and Al particles by focused external
infrared radiation. It is shown that this effect is observed due to the po
ssibility of the ignition of the laser-chemical reaction into an initial sm
all focal volume of an active medium. It then spreads out of this minimal v
olume spontaneously in the auto-wave regime without external power sources
and subsequently fills the whole volume of the laser cavity with a high int
ensive electromagnetic field as self-supporting cylindrical photon-branchin
g zones formed by the paths of the rays inside the unstable telescopic cavi
ty. Calculations show that the ignition of an auto-wave photon-branched cha
in reaction under the condition of external signal focusing strongly reduce
s the input pulse energy necessary for initiation up to similar to 10(-8) J
, and thereby allows a huge value of the energy gain of similar to 10(11).
The observed effect of this huge laser energy gain makes it possible to con
struct a self-contained laser with kilojoule output energy, which can be in
itiated by a very weak source signal. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physic
s. [S0021-8979(00)09019-8].