Effects of ignition on gain in an inverted N2O flow

Studies on nitrous oxide gas dynamic lasers with thermal pumping have shown that the same population inversion can be realized at temperatures lower than those for carbon dioxide mixtures. Raising the temperature, however, which increases the vibrational energy, is restricted by reactions that tend to reduce the concentration of the working species. The species used as the vibrational-energy reservoir, molecular nitrogen or carbon monoxide, determines what substantially different paths the ignition of nitrous oxide may take. In this paper the authors examine the effects of composition changes in nitrous oxide/nitrogen/helium and nitrous oxide/carbon monoxide/helium mixtures on the gain as well as the cross effects of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide on the population inversion.