Investigation of a pulsed chemical H2–F2 laser at high pressures of the working mixture

A report is given of the experimental results and qualitative analysis of the operation of a chemical H₂–F₂ laser at pressures up to 5 atm in the mixture. The mixture was initiated optically with a flux of 1.5×10²³ photons·cm^–2·sec^–1 using pulses of 0.7 μsec duration. Reduction of the duration of the initiation pulses at a constant pump energy increased the energy output and shifted the optimal presure of the mixture toward higher values.