Chemical mixing laser

Claim 1

The method producing laser energy which comprises: providing free atoms by chemically reacting at least two primary reactants in an exothermic chemical reaction in nonstoichiometric proportions in a high pressure reaction chamber producing a first gas mixture which contains the free atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a condition of relatively high pressure and high stagnation temperature in the reaction chamber to a condition of reduced pressure and reduced translational temperature, freezing the free atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting a second reactant with the free atoms to produce a second gas mixture including an active laser gas and to provide in the laser gas an inverted population of vibrationally excited molecules; expanding the second gas mixture; and passing the second gas through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 2

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: chemically reacting at least two primary reactants in an exothermic chemical reaction in nonstoichiometric proportions in a high pressure reaction chamber, producing reaction products containing free atoms; injecting a diluent gas into the reaction products to lower the stagnation temperature of the reaction products to minimize the recombination of free atoms, and to form a first gas mixture; expanding the first gas mixture from a condition of relatively high pressure and high stagnation temperature in the reaction chamber to a condition of reduced pressure and reduced translational temperature, freezing the free atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting a secondary reactant with the free atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited molecules of an active laser gas; admixing additional amounts of the diluent gas to reduce the translational temperature of the second gas mixture forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third mixture; and passing the third mixture through means for producing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 8

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically in nonstoichiometric proportions in a high pressure reaction chamber, producing reaction products containing free fluorine atoms; injecting helium as a diluent gas into the reacTion chamber to lower the stagnation temperature of the reaction products and minimize the recombination of the free fluorine atoms, forming a first gas mixture; expanding the first gas mixture to a translational temperature lower than 200*F and a pressure lower than 100 Torr, freezing the free atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting hydrogen molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited molecules of hydrogen fluoride; admixing additional amounts of helium to reduce the translational temperature of the second gas mixture and forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third gas mixture; and passing the third gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 9

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-hydrogen molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably 3:1 in a reaction chamber, producing a first gas mixture which contains substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F in the reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting deuterium molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited deuterium fluoride; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 10

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-hydrogen molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably about 3:1 in a reaction chamber, producing reaction products which contain substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; injecting into the reaction chamber a sufficient amount of sulfur hexafluoride diluent to establish a first gas mixture having a sulfur hexafluoride volume consistency of from 15 to 30 percent; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F in the reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting deuterium molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited deuterium fluoride; admixing additional amounts of sulfur hexafluoride to reduce the translational temperature of the second gas mixture to approximately 100*F forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third gas mixture to a pressure of less than 100 Torr; and passing the third gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 11

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-hydrogen molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably 3:1 in a reaction chamber, producing reaction products which contain substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; injecting into the reaction chamber a sufficient amounts of helium diluent gas to establish a first gas mixture having a helium volume consistency of about 30 to 60 percent; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F in the reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine to inhibit recombination of thE free atoms; reacting deuterium molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited deuterium fluoride; admixing additional amounts of helium to reduce the translational temperature of the second gas mixture to approximately 100*F forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third gas mixture to a pressure of less than 100 Torr; and passing the third gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 12

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting deuterium and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-deuterium molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably about 3:1 in a reaction chamber producing a first gas mixture which contain substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F in the reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 10*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting hydrogen molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited hydrogen fluoride; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 13

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting deuterium and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-deuterium molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably about 3:1 in a reaction chamber, producing reaction products which contain substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; injecting into the reaction chamber a sufficient amount of sulfur hexafluoride diluent to establish a first gas mixture having a sulfur hexafluoride volume consistency of from 15 to 30 percent; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F in the reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine; to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting hydrogen molecules with the free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited hydrogen fluoride; admixing additional amounts of sulfur hexafluoride to reduce the translational temperature of the second gas mixture to approximately 100*F forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third gas mixture to a pressure of less than 100 Torr; and passing the third gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 14

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting deuterium and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-deuterium molar ratio of approximately 1 to 5:1, preferably about 3:1 in a reaction chamber, producing reaction products which contain substantially all of the excess fluorine as free fluorine atoms; injecting into the reaction chamber a sufficient amount of helium diluent to establish a first gas mixture having a helium volume consistency of from 30 to 60 percent; expanding the first gas mixture in the reaction chamber from a stagnation temperature of approximately 3,500*F to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free atoms of fluorine to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting hydrogen molecules with a free fluorine atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited hydrogen fluoride; admixing additional amounts of helium to reduce the temperature of the second gas mixture to aPproximately 100*F forming a third gas mixture; expanding the third gas mixture to a pressure of less than 100 Torr; and passing the third gas mixture means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 15

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically with a fluorine-to-hydrogen molar ratio of approximately 0.6 to 0.2:1, preferably about 0.5:1, in a reaction chamber producing a first gas mixture which contains free hydrogen atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a stagnation temperature of approximately 4,000*F in a reaction chamber to a condition of approximately 100*F and a pressure of approximately 30 Torr, freezing the free hydrogen atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting additional fluorine containing molecules with the free hydrogen atoms to form a second gas mixture and to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited hydrogen fluoride; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 17

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting cyanogen with ozone exothermically in a molar ratio of approximately 1:1.5 in a high pressure reaction chamber producing a first gas mixture containing free oxygen atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a condition of relatively high pressure and stagnation temperature in the reaction chamber to a condition of reduced pressure and translational temperature, freezing the free oxygen atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting a secondary reactant selected from the group consisting of carbon disulfide and carbon suboxide with the free oxygen atoms to form a second gas mixture and to produce an inverted population of vibrationally excited molecules of carbon monoxide; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 18

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting lithium and oxygen difluoride exothermically in a molar ratio of approximately 0.55:1 in a high pressure reaction chamber producing a first gas mixture containing free oxygen atoms; expanding the first gas mixture from a condition of relatively high pressure and stagnation temperature in the reaction chamber to a condition of reduced pressure and temperature, freezing the free oxygen atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting a secondary reactant selected from the group consisting of carbon disulfide and carbon suboxide with the free oxygen atoms to form a second gas mixture to provide an inverted population of vibrationally excited molecules of carbon monoxide; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.

Claim 19

The method of producing laser energy which comprises: reacting hydrogen and fluorine exothermically in a molar ratio of approximately 1.4:1 in a high pressure reaction chamber producing reaction products containing free hydrogen atoms; injecting helium diluent gas into the reaction chamber to lower the stagnation temperature of the reaction products and minimize the recombination of the free hydrogen atoms; expanding the gases from a condition of relatively high pressure and stagnation temperature in the reaction chaMber to a condition of reduced translational temperature and pressure, freezing the free hydrogen atoms to inhibit recombination of the free atoms; reacting ozone of the free hydrogen to form a first gas mixture and to produce an inverted population of vibrationally excited hydroxyl radical molecules; admixing additional amounts of helium diluent to reduce the translational temperature of the first gas mixture and forming a second gas mixture; expanding the second gas mixture; and passing the second gas mixture through means for providing stimulated emission of radiation from the active laser gas.