Electrically Excited D2-DF Transfer Laser.

Abstract : This report describes the results of a 9-month program directed toward further understanding of the DF electric discharge laser operating in the 3.8 to 4.1 micrometer spectral region. Previous work at this laboratory established the first observation of laser emission from the DF molecule excited directly by an electron beam stabilized electric discharge. During the present program a detailed kinetics model of the DF electric discharge laser has been developed, and line-by-line measurements of the small signal optical gain and absorption and the output power have been made. The effect of DF electron attachment has also been determined. It was found that the small signal optical gain observed in DF mixtures is a factor of about 4 smaller than that obtained in HF gas mixtures under corresponding conditions. For this reason, and because of the rapid V-T decay rate of DF, the output power obtained from DF in an electron beam stabilized electric discharge is very low at practical values of electron beam current density; the overall electrical to laser energy conversion efficiency observed was less than 0.05 percent. (Author)