Gasdynamic photorecombination lasers

A quantitative analysis is made of several features of gasdynamic photorecombination lasers utilizing electronic transitions. The flow of a recombining gas through a supersonic nozzle is calculated in the sudden freezing approximation. Nonequilibrium dissociation, population inversion criteria, and the energy stored in inverted states are all considered. The dependences of the these quantities on the initial conditions, nozzle shape, etc. are analyzed.