Activation of laser mixtures in photochemical hydrogen halide lasers by O(1D) atoms

The use of O₃ molecules as a photoinitiating component in hydrogen halide lasers improved qualitatively the characteristics of HCl (DCl) lasers and made it possible to observe, for the first time, stimulated emission from HBr and DBr molecules by flash photolysis of suitable gas mixtures. The activating effect of ozone was due to a considerable acceleration of the formation of atomic hydrogen (deuterium) as a result of photolysis of ozone in laser gas mixtures.