Influence of the chemical composition of the hydrogen-containing component in an RH active medium and of the initiation method on the parameters of a pulsed chemical SF6–RH laser

The influence of the composition of the active medium on the lasing characteristics and energy deposition efficiency was studied under conditions of electron-beam and electric-discharge initiation in SF₆–H₂ and SF₆–HI pulsed hydrogen fluoride chemical lasers.The best radiation energy characteristics were achieved for an SF₆–HI active medium using electron-beam initiation and for an SF₆–H₂ active medium when the pump reaction was initiated by a self-sustained volume discharge. The following pulse parameters were obtained for an SF₆–HI laser:energy 1.5 J, half-height pulse duration 60 ns,and leading edge duration 20 ns.