Investigation of the process of formation of oxygen-containing products as a result of multiphoton dissociation of SF6 by radiation from a high-power pulsed CO2 laser

The relative yields of sulfur oxyfluorides SOF₄, SOF₂, and SO₂F₂ formed by multiphoton dissociation of SF₆ in Ar:SF₆ = 1:5 and Ar:SF₆:O₂ = 1:5:50 mixtures were determined at a partial SF₆ pressure of 0.2 Torr for various energy densities of CO₂ laser radiation. It was found that the addition of 2 Torr O₂ to the Ar–SF₆ mixture enhanced selective dissociation of SF₆ and increased 20-fold the coefficient representing separation of the ³²S and ³⁴S isotopes in SOF₄, and also altered the relative yields of all the sulfur oxyfluorides. The results obtained were used to propose a chemical reaction scheme occurring in the system in the presence of oxygen in the Ar–SF₆ mixture and also in the absence of oxygen. This scheme accounted for the appearance of the products and for the changes in the relative yields of SOF₄, SOF₂, and SO₂F₂ on addition of oxygen.