EFFICIENT PURELY CHEMICAL cw LASER OPERATION

Abstract

Continuous‐wave laser operation at 10.6μ has been achieved in the DF–CO₂ and HF–CO₂ molecular systems by purely chemical means. No external energy sources are required; both lasers operate solely by the simple mixing of bottled gases. Experimental results are presented which demonstrate that cw chemical laser operation at high power and high efficiency is realizable in the DF–CO₂ system.