Continuous chemical lasing from an electric-discharge mixing device

Using a fast-flow mixing device, CW lasing has been realized with HF, DF, and CO. A dc glow discharge was used to provide atomic species (F or O) that were mixed with a second reactant (H2, D2, or CS2) introduced through a spray tube just upstream of an optical cavity that was aligned transverse to the gas flow. Compared with previously reported CW chemical lasers that employ glow discharges with gas flow co-axial to the optical cavity, the present mixing laser produces higher power (watts versus mw.), and permits oscillations on (1-0) vibrational transitions in HF by virtue of the fast removal of ground-state molecules.