Relationship between the duration of the stimulated emission from HF molecules and the durations of the reactions of fluorine and nitrogen fluorides with hydrogen

An analysis was made of the relationship between the duration of the stimulated emission τ_e from HF* and the "duration" of the reaction τ_r in F₂ + H₂, NF₃ + H₂, and N₂F₄ + H₂ mixtures. The values of τ_e and τ_r calculated from the kinetics of these reactions were of the same order of magnitude only for the F₂ + H₂ system but very different for the other two systems. These differences were attributed to the different roles of the secondary stages of these chain reactions in the course of formation of the vibrationally excited HF molecules in the inverted state. A comparison of the values of τ_e and τ_r could provide information on the degree of utilization of the reagents in the generation of coherent radiation.