Boron fluoride and aluminum fluoride infrared lasers from quasicontinuous supersonic mixing flames

Laser action has been observed from the chemical reaction of fluorine injected into supersonic flows of boron and aluminum atoms. The laser output in the 12.8–20‐μm region (AlF) is temporally different from that in the 6.1–13‐μm region (BF), but both have pulse durations 103–104 longer than any of the previously reported metal atom oxidation lasers.