Giant energy gain in a pulsed HF laser based on a photon-branched chain reaction

Renat R. Letfullin; Henk F. Arnoldus; John T. Foley

doi:10.1117/12.472745

5 June 2003 Giant energy gain in a pulsed HF laser based on a photon-branched chain reaction

Renat R. Letfullin, Henk F. Arnoldus, John T. Foley

Proceedings Volume 4971, Gas and Chemical Lasers and Intense Beam Applications IV; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.472745
Event: High-Power Lasers and Applications, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

A huge energy gain is predicted theoretically in a pulsed chemical laser-amplifier based on a photon-branched chain reaction initiated in a gaseous dispersed medium composed of H₂-F₂-O₂-He and Al particles by focused external infrared radiation. It is shown that this effect is due to the possibility of ignition of the laser-chemical reaction in an initial small focal volume of the active medium. It then spreads out of this minimal volume spontaneously in the auto-wave regime without external power sources and subsequently fills the entire volume of the laser cavity with a high intensive electromagnetic field as self-supporting cylindrical photon-branching zones formed by the paths of the rays inside the unstable telescopic cavity. Calculations show that the ignition of an auto-wave photon-branched chain reaction under the condition of external signal focusing reduces strongly the input pulse energy necessary for initiation up to ~ 10^-8 J, and thereby allows a huge value of the energy gain of ~ 10¹¹. The predicted effect of this huge laser energy gain should make it possible to construct a self-contained laser, which can be initiated by a very weak source signal.

Citation Download Citation

Renat R. Letfullin, Henk F. Arnoldus, and John T. Foley "Giant energy gain in a pulsed HF laser based on a photon-branched chain reaction", Proc. SPIE 4971, Gas and Chemical Lasers and Intense Beam Applications IV, (5 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.472745

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